The Knight Hidden in the Leaf
by T. J. Landman
Summary: The story of the knight that gets thrown into the Naruto world with knowledge that he couldn't have known and who follows a code that will forever change the shinobi world. Who is he anyway? OC, self-insert, Naruto's fraternal twin brother.
1. Chapter 1 Arrival

Author's Note: This is a slight Naruto - Star Wars crossover, in the sense that I include concepts in the Star Wars universe, but no characters and certainly no technology, this will be purely Narutoverse jutsus and special abilities.

Disclaimer: I am only going to make one of these, as long as this doesn't need updating, consider this valid for all current and future chapters of this story: I do not own Naruto, or any characters, situations, powers, etc. associated with it, those rights go to Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own any concepts included, or characters referenced from the Star Wars universe either, those belong to George Lucas. I do own my O.C., though I do not own his name, Menma Uzumaki is by name, Kishimoto's, but in this story, he is the brain-child of myself, Obi-Wan and Minato and I don't expect him to be prostituted away to others without my permission, thank you for your understanding.

Author's Note no. 2: I will NOT reveal any pairings, that's just not the way I do things, likewise I will accept suggestions for future chapters but I will not do polls regarding plot decisions or things like that, this is MY story and I am writing it to share my own creation, if you want to do so with yours, feel free to post it to this site or another. Lemons may suddenly appear throughout the story, and this will be rated M, for violence and language and later events. That being said, this will NOT be a lemon-centric story, I will only include one if I feel it will be relevant to the story.

Now... on with the show!

Let's get one thing straight. I am a nerd. Not the type that wears huge glasses and acts like one because it is 'cool', no, that's a hipster, and they can do whatever they like with their lives and expect me to do the same. No, I am the type of nerd that gets obsessed with particular things and milks them for all that they are worth, be they books, video games, anime, movies, and so on and so forth. Now, I could list all the things that I mulled over, which would take possibly a few thousand words, or I could list the two most important in my life, currently, or rather... my previous life... previously. You'll understand what I mean soon enough. Those two things were Star Wars and Naruto. Now... people tend to separate those two but I prefer to keep a mindful connection, because Star Wars certainly contains elements from Japanese martial arts and so does Naruto, and then there's the whole Force – Chakra debacle, I'll get to that at a later date, I am also known as the Saki-Nobashi-no-Kami, The God of Procrastination, self-entitled, of course.

Anyhow, back on topic. I was so freaking obsessed with these two universes that I started to basically ignore my current... errr... previous life, so much so that I was basically a zombie. Yes, a zombie. No, I did not suck out people's brains and my I.Q. was still over 160, but I began to downgrade my time spent with other people as much as possible, school was pretty much just a chore, I did not pay attention at all, and for the life of me I can't understand how I was always in the top 3 of my class, I just figured I had insane genetics, and I started to study the ways of the Jedi Knights and Shinobi, respectively. I was a glorified otaku, not the fat, couch potatoes, no offence to chubby people, or people that have health issues, but you know the type that have doll collections all over their homes and shit. I trained my mind, and my body, to be perfect for the environment of the specific universes I loved. Even though I had literally no connection to chakra, and I was certainly NOT force-sensitive, midi-chlorians weren't real, I realised that, but I still learned all the hand seals, some jutsus that I had no hope of ever actually performing, and I'm not talking about just the hand seals, all the theory behind the technique was in my head, and because I didn't know my affinity, I basically learned my fair share of all of them. One of my minor obsessions were martial arts, of course, and I had training in Judo and MMA fighting, those were under a sensei, I also privately trained in aikido and ju-jitsu, the Japanese art, not the Brazilian one. I intimately studied the Jedi Code and of course owned a copy of the Jedi Path manual, I also trained in the first five forms of lightsaber combat, the final two were kinda hard to learn, the former was heavily reliant on actual force use, which I could not account for, even more so than the second and fourth forms that relied on physical enhancement and the latter was basically channelling inner darkness towards combat, which seemed so utterly Sith-like to me that I could not stomach it, I also meditated a whole lot and lived my life following the Jedi Code, at least the one later taught by Luke Skywalker in almost-canon works, in which compassion and love go hand in hand. On a similar line of thought, have you ever wondered how Anakin and Naruto are both children of prophecy with huge midi-chlorian and chakra reserves, respectively, and that have the power of a. bringing balance to the Force/chakra and/or b. bringing peace to the Universe? Yeah, I wondered about that, A LOT. Not to say it isn't an overused idea, but we're really stretching on a lot of words here, the gist of the issue is that I was insane, or rather... I didn't quite live in the 'real' world... and the fact that I could accomplish some freaky things in the 'real' world was quite... encouraging. When I was a kid I could lift spoons, many spoons with only a dab of my palm on them, they stuck to me like I was a damn magnetic field! I had quite a knack for technology, I was for all intents and purposes a prodigy and I studied all types of interesting materials and also blacksmithing, I basically designed and forged my own dual-action hidden blade, from the Assassin's Creed series, because I found it a challenge, and people kept saying it was impossible to be done... Again, going off-topic. I was 17, yes, practically a teenager, and if you haven't figured it out yet, a male. Imagine my surprise, when I meditating one day, trying to get a feel for the Force that supposedly coursed through all things, be they living or not when I apparently fell asleep, or so I thought.

A few confusing, terrifying and certainly strange hours later, on a hospital bed, next to a rather cute if I may say so, blond baby, with whisker-marked cheeks. That's not even the strange part, I had to go through childbirth... truly, truly horrifying, it seems that babies cannot vomit when they are being born, because I was certainly gagging all the way through. And now here I am, a baby, short hands, short feet, the whole package. I tried speaking a few fords, but frankly all that came out were a few vowels, mainly As and Es. Over the next few days, my worries, or should I say hopes, were cemented, I was in the Narutoverse, certainly, if not for the mini-Naruto next to me, we were visited a few times by a man that certainly looked a lot like a teenage Kakashi, who already had the Sharingan, and the old man, the Third.

I learned a few things right away, the spoken language was funnily enough, English. Well... not entirely, they had the Japanese honorific titles, and used quite a lot of Japanese words, it was all too amazing to me. What is more, I was apparently Naruto's twin brother, maybe a fraternal twin because the few times I saw myself in reflective surfaces I had blonde hair with a few red streaks on the fringe and my eyes were of the same vibrant blue but with an almost purple centre, mixing in the middle to form a kind of blueish violet. I could see both Minato and Kushina in my appearance and it didn't seem quite me, if anything, it would take me quite a bit of time to get used to my new identity.

What positively freaked me out the most though was... my name. I was now Menma Uzumaki. Getting over the initial shock of sharing a name with an alternate universe EVIL Naruto... what is wrong with these people, my apparent parents?! Naming their sons after ramen ingredients? Seriously? I cried a little inside, and outside too, I needed a diaper change again. Damnable babies. I hate babies even when I am the literal embodiment of one. Getting over the fact that my parents were probably ramen-addicts, I promptly noticed that I possessed the same whisker marks as Naruto, they felt a little rough to the touch but very pleasant to fondle, I could feel myself almost purring at my exploring touches, which brought me to a few conclusions – in canon, half of the Kyūbi's power, specifically the Yang part, the 'light' and physical part was sealed in Naruto, and the other half, the Yin part, the 'dark' and spiritual part was sealed in Minato, taking it with him to the death, apparently things didn't happen quite the same this time around, there would be no point in doubting the fact that the Yang part was sealed in Naruto, which would mean that I was now one of two jailers of the Kyūbi's power, and while I would not have a cool red chakra cloak and solid chakra arms coming out of my body, I would not get a boost to speed, power and defence, I would however be, at least theoretically, in tailed beast mode, a god at casting genjutsu, healing jutsu and possibly enhancing any Sage Mode I would have learned and also lightning jutsu, and if I mastered it enough, maybe even create matter – now that would be amazing, although that would require mastery which is, in theory, next to impossible to achieve if you are, quite frankly, the only user of Yin since the damn Sage of the Six Paths.

We were soon moved to an orphanage, and it was certainly scary, I could feel the hateful glares of basically every caretaker, except a younger, dark-haired teen girl, possibly unaware of our prisoner and I discovered the wonders of baby bottles – the stuff was amazing! I couldn't remember milk tasting as good in the 'real' world and I certainly didn't mind drinking the stuff for another few months.

The lack of human interaction was a bit disheartening, but not overly so, I was used to spending my time alone and I was only now delving inside my own chakra network, it felt quite a lot like how I imagined the Force would feel when I finally sensed it, I could feel a river flowing not only through me, but through everything around me, especially my baby brother, Naruto was less like a river and more like Hurricane Katrina and strangely, it didn't feel bad at all, it felt quite nice, feeling all that energy, I was now glad that I memorised the whole of the Jedi 'manuscripts' available to the fans, it really was a new experience and I could use all the help I could get, of course I used my current chakra knowledge as well, but I tried to combine the two, I figured they really were alike – the invisible force that binds all things together, one can use it to fortify their physical characteristics, to sense others, to view in the past and the future ( Gamamaru, anyone? ), to influence the minds of others ( genjutsu? ), to manipulate objects via telekinesis ( Deva path? This can probably be done without the Rinnegan, going to have to figure that out at some point ), and of course there's the more powerful dark-side techniques like Force Lightning, which is basically seal-less, pure Raiton ( Lightning Release ) manipulation.

I had no idea how things would go from here, but I wanted to keep things as canon as I could up to a certain point, I wouldn't try to save everybody – that would just be impossible and other problems would arise because of it, I will try to influence things for the better, and take things one at a time, dealing with Mizuki or Zabuza are certainly unimportant in a greater scale – Akatsuki and Madara are way more important and I will focus on preparing myself to face the greater dangers that they would present, for I am now a shinobi following the honour bound way of the Jedi Knights.


	2. Chapter 2 Heritage

"Nii-chan?" Naruto's young and impossibly cute voice brought me out of my reverie, I tilted my head towards him and gave him a small, questioning 'hmmm?'.

"Well... I was wondering... since you know all this stuff... Who are those men on that mountain?" he asked, pointing straight at the Hokage Monument.

"That's quite an easy question, Naruto-kun, with an easy answer, can you tell me if you recognize one of them? It should be quite easy since we do see him at least once a week." I stated, sagely. Last week was our third birthday and I realised that canon Naruto was just really stunted in his growth, we had literally no one except the Third to help us in our social endeavours, no wonder his vocabulary was limited and he couldn't understand any moderately difficult sentences, so I took the mantle of the Big Brother, even though we had no real way to discern which one was born first, and I started teaching Naruto the ins and outs of the world, this basically began to increase his appetite for knowledge and I was much too happy to indulge him.

After a moment of thought, the proverbial light bulb lit up above his head. "Aha! That's Old Man right there! The third face! Wait... people call him the Third... because he is the Third Hokage! I get it now, thanks nii-chan!" I smiled at him, he was certainly sharp for a three year old, nothing the likes of Itachi or Kakashi, but he was no slouch, he must have inherited Kushina's intellect and brashness, and I Minato's because I certainly processed thoughts noticeably faster than in my previous body.

"It's my pleasure, Naruto-kun. Any more questions that fancy your curiosity this beautiful day?" I asked, mostly teasingly, but I was in the mood of enlightening him once more, I always was, after all.

"Uhm... yeah... Why is there a Fourth if the Third is still alive?"

"Well... that is a sad answer for some, but I believe that there is no death, that we just reunite with the Force, the power that binds things together, but that's just my opinion." I explained, certain that he would understand the hidden meaning behind my statement.

"I see... could you tell me about him? About how he lived, I mean, and how he died..." Naruto said with bunched up eyebrows and a slightly quivering lower lip.

"Of course. His name was Minato Namikaze, he was the student of Jiraiya-"

"That's one of the Legendary Three, right?" Naruto interrupted with a grin.

"That's right, but what have I told you about interrupting people?" I said in a motherly tone.

"I'm sorry, nii-chan, please continue." Naruto stated with a straight face that seemed incredibly out of place on a three year old boy, is that how I look?! Nevermind...

"As I was saying, he was the student of the Toad Sage, and he was very famous for his Hiraishin no Jutsu ( Flying Thunder God ), which gave him the title of 'The Yellow Flash' because he could instantly teleport to either one of his special kunai or to seals that he placed on the ground or on someone's body. He was also a toad sage, just like Jiraiya, and he was also the creator of the Rasengan, a physical manipulation jutsu that was very effective on the battlefield. He was a genius and a prodigy of his time and became Hokage at a very young age and ruled over the village with a firm but fair fist. Can you tell me anything about the night of the Kyūbi's attack?"

"Well... I only know that this enormous Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village and many people died that night..." Naruto said, looking at his feet, he always felt bad when he didn't know something when I quized him, but I didn't actually mind as long as he was willing to learn.

"Hey, don't look so glum, it's not something people want or like to talk about, but it's important to know our history. Why is that?"

"Because shinobi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training."

"And?"

"There is no ignorance, there is only knowledge." He basically recited the second line of the Jedi Code, I was visibly grinning now, I thought him well.

"Remind me to take you to Ichiraku's this evening." He was bouncing all over the place at this and I coughed slightly, signalling for him to calm down, which he did.

"That night, the Fourth is the one who defended the village, he sacrificed himself for the lives of many, defeating the Nine-Tails in the process, it was a truly heroic act which demands the proper respect, he was a great man."

"But... how did he defeat the Kyūbi?" I was teaching him a little too well and his heritage and burden would be harder to keep a secret, but I could not lie to him, for Jedi do not lie, only bend the truth for the greater good, and I had no real reason to do that, not with Naruto, my brother.

"He couldn't, or rather wouldn't, kill the Kyūbi. Do you understand why he did that?"

"Yes, because all life forms are precious, and if there is an alternative, we are not to take lives." Another Jedi mantra.

"That is correct, and there was an alternative, specifically, through Fūinjutsu. Can you tell me what that is?"

"Fūinjutsu is the art of sealing... so he sealed the Kyūbi into something. But what?"

"This discussion is for another time, I am afraid you are not quite ready for the real facts of the story, but know this – you already know more than some ignorant villagers that live here and that gives you an advantage, do not abuse that power, understand?" I said, more seriously this time.

"Yes! I will not betray your trust, nii-chan! And also, I really respect the Fourth, and look up to him! I really want to be Hokage one day!" He said, grinning and giving me a thumbs up with his right hand. I chuckled lightly, this was the Naruto I admired from the manga.

"And why is that?" I said, still chuckling lightly.

"So I can protect everybody! I will become strong, so I can defend the weak!" I needed to really teach him other things as well, but the Jedi path was not a bad one to walk, quite the opposite in my opinion.

"Well... I hope you remember what I said about promises, little brother." Always making something a quiz, because that's how Naruto learned – by doing.

"If I make a promise, I shall always keep it and I shall never make a promise that I am not certain I could keep. Also, I will deliver more that I promised, so even when I promise nothing, I deliver much!" He said, grinning again at the end, textbook knowledge of the Jedi Path, I was thinking of rewriting the book, it would be good for future generations, but 'Wise Words from a Three Year Old' would not sell so I'll hold off on that.

"You promised you would be Hokage, so I expect you to be the best one yet!" I said teasingly, ruffling his hair in the process. "I know you can do it, thought. You never cease to surprise me, Naru-kun."

"Hey! You're as old as I am! Don't call me that!" he said, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest. In response I just hugged him tightly.

"What was that for?" he said once I released my grip and backed away.

"I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you as my little brother." I grinned at him and he was once again back to grinning at each other, the glee in his eyes evident.

"And I'm lucky to have you as a big brother!" He said, hugging me back.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

We lived our life peacefully for next couple of weeks, I was back to training physically and I found some training swords for my lightsaber forms, I figured it would be good kenjutsu practice, especially now that I could use Force-driven acrobatics, via chakra enhancement. I quickly realised my body was far more mature than a normal three-year-old's and that was evident across all the chakra sensitive kids in the village so I assumed that it was just a consequence of having so much energy flow through your body, it needed to adapt to it. So 'real' life adulthood would probably be attained at around 14 or so for boys and probably less for girls, your body would just stop growing in height at that age. And it made sense also, young prodigies that graduated the Academy at a young age and that made Jounin or ANBU or what have you at a similarly tender age certainly needed the body of at least a young adult to perform in the field. I was thinking of introducing Naruto to shinobi and Force training but I would hold off at least till he started the Academy, it would make sense for me to know general knowledge, but not shinobi training, not with AT LEAST trainee level clearance in the libraries. I decided that I should train with Shadow Clones because I obviously had the chakra capacity, I was already high Chūnin or more in capacity alone, so I put my theoretical knowledge to the test and started to work on my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu ( Shadow Clone ).

Five hours later.

Finally... my chakra control is so messed up it's not even remotely funny, no wonder Naruto could not do three bunshins to pass the graduation exam, the first time I managed to actually make anything that resembled me using the Kage Bunshin I made over 50... That's just scary. Going to have to work on Chakra Control, and what better way to start that meditation. I quickly got into my Meditation of Emptiness stance and relaxed, I purged all my emotions, be they good or evil and I focused on the centre of my being... Deep breaths. Drip. Drip. Drip. Is it raining? No... why is there an echo, I'm in the middle of a training ground... oh you've gotta be kidding me!

I opened my eyes and I was, strangely, in what seemed to be the Jedi Temple in Coruscant, except it was wet, knee-deep water flooded the pace and I could hear water dripping from every nook and cranny of the upper floors. I stood up slowly, and strutted deeper inside the temple, the place was just like I had imagined it to be, grandiose, majestic, elegant, a truly inspiring place for both aspiring Jedi and masters alike, my sightseeing trip was cut awfully short by the presence of columns of stone that resembled the Kyūbi's cage, the centre one having a slip of paper with the kanji for 'seal' on it.

"**So... you have finally come, my jailer."** a deep, rumbling voice, capable of slightly adjusting my heart rate by its sheer volume and depth.

"So I have. I didn't think we'd meet so soon, but this is the way of the Force and I am not one to disobey it." I was working on the premise that Kurama had an inkling about who I was or what my thought process was.

"**How do you know of such concepts? You are far too young. The last person who knew of these was my creator, my father." **the fox said, and neared further, I could now see his eyes and the sadness they contained at his words, my heart truly reached out to the almighty being.

"I thought you could see into my memories or at least my thoughts in the recent years. Forgive me, I did not wish to mislead you in any way. I didn't know that you knew of the Force." I stated truthfully, lying to Kurama would do nothing to hinder my following of the will of the Force.

"**I can only see glimpses of your thoughts, your twin brother is far easier to read however, his mind is less complicated, you almost seem... older than what your physical body is. But you do not have to divulge anything to me, you are already on the right path, few mortals ever are. Know this – my father was the last living man to ever go down that path, and he taught us, his children, about it as well. We were supposed to share our knowledge with the humans in case nobody would discover the path again, but he foresaw your appearance and none of us ever doubted his visions. Know that it is your duty to share your knowledge with others, albeit not know, you are much too young to be taken seriously by the ignorant, facetious humans that now roam this earth."**

"Thank you, Kurama. I promise that your faith is not unfounded." I said, smiling at the enormous beast. I could tell he was struggling to share this with me because of his principles, he was having a hard time treating a human as an equal, if only to respect the memory of the Sage.

"**How did you? Never mind, I said that I would not inquire as to your knowledge and I will respect my promise, as I expect you to do yours. We will meet again, Menma Uzumaki."**

Suddenly, I was back at the training grounds, and it was just over sunset, I had to get back at the orphanage, Naruto must surely be worrying. I hurried over to the orphanage and found Naruto outside, tears slightly dampening his cheeks, I quickly rushed over to him and hugged him desperately, telling him that every was going to be okay.

"No, it's not! We were kicked out... they said... they said that we were two demons and that we don't deserve to live here!" He said, still crying into my shoulder.

"It's okay, we're just going to go to Jiji, and he will help us. I am sure of it." I assured him and he looked up at me and smiled, he put way too much faith in me and, like with Kurama, I was going to make sure I fit the shoes that they had prepared for me.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"They what?!" Now that was unexpected, a shocked, furious by the looks of it Third Hokage that was leaking so much Killing Intent I thought I would faint, though he quickly realised that Naruto was close to wetting his pants and took a puff of his pipe to calm down.

"It's not your fault, old man. Don't get angry on our behalf." I said, followed by a quick "Yeah! It's not your fault, old man!" by the over-exuberant ball of energy next to me. Hearing this, the Third actually smiled, a genuine smile, one you wouldn't expect from a leader of his calibre, it was heart warming, to see that MY little brother could bring out the happiness in people.

"I know just what to do... But you both will need to show me that you are capable of taking care of yourselves. Understand, Naruto-kun, Menma-kun?" He asked while tilting his forehead down to peer straight into our eyes. We nodded approvingly, each in our own specific way – I nodded once, full of conviction and Naruto nodded furiously a couple of times, showing his obvious excitement at being trusted with something important for once.

The third looked at me for a moment, silently asking me to take care of my brother as I was evidently the more responsible of the pair. I smiled reassuringly to the man and he nodded.

"Here's what I am going to do. There is a house that hasn't been in use for 3 years now. It was supposed to be a Main Branch clan house, although all of its clan members died the night of the Kyūbi's attack, a truly tragic incident."

"Wait! You're giving us the Namikaze house?!" I blurted out, completely forgetting my serious façade for a moment and also the fact that I wasn't supposed to know anything about the Fourth other than MAYBE his name.

"Menma-kun." The Third uttered in an overly sweet voice that I would have previously only associated with one dango-loving, probably sadistic purple-haired, fish-line wearing beauty. "Is there anything you would like to share with me, possibly something that you have already shared with your brother?" He asked in the same hair-rising tone.

"Uhmm... Third Hokage-sama... Naruto-kun doesn't know... I was waiting for the right moment to tell him..." I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head for a second before I realised what I was doing, pulling my hand away like it was set on fire. The old man just sighed and motioned us to sit down.

"Okay... how much do you know, Menma-kun?" he asked, now in a tone that suggested his real age, I would think it's around the sixty-something mark, really impressive for a shinobi, I might add.

"Well... I know about my heritage, I mean... Naruto here is a mini-Yondaime in the flesh if I'll ever see one and our names are Uzumaki, the only member of that clan that I know of is Kushina, and she had red hair, purple eyes, which means that my pedigree checks out... and we were born on the 10th of October, a.k.a. the night of the Kyūbi's attack... it wasn't that hard to figure out you know." Over to my right side, Naruto was visibly gaping like a fish out of the water and was undecided on who to stare at, me or the Third so he kinda spaced out. I couldn't blame him, though. I snaked a hand over his shoulders and asked in as soft a tone as possible.

"You okay, Naru-kun? I know I should have told you but-"

"Are you kidding me?! I'm a bit surprised, yeah, but I find out that my hero is actually my dad, and that we weren't abandoned, but that we were actually saved, along with our whole village, by our parents, who sacrificed themselves to save us, I'm so proud of them and I'm happy – that we're their sons, but at the same time, I understand why you didn't tell me, being the Fourth he must have had some really powerful enemies, so it was probably for my own good. But... this is amazing!" Naruto said in such a speed that I was struggling to understand what he was saying and wondering where he had found a large batch of caffeine and helium. His body probably produces his own... I concluded, and smiled at him, he took it in stride.

The Third smiled as well and reached into a drawer and produced a couple of papers, the deed to the house and some other inheritance related documents.

"You know... I'm sorry to tell you but you're going to have to keep your father's family name a secret... As Naruto-kun expertly stated, it's not a good idea to make targets of yourselves."

"I understand, and I wouldn't want me or Naruto to live in such a way anyway, modesty is a very important trait of character." I said, smiling at Naruto who nodded once in understanding at my words.

"Spoken like a true philosopher, Menma-kun."

"Uhm... what is a philosopher, nii-chan?" Naruto whispered in my ear, but I was positive that the Third heard every single word.

"Well, a philosopher is one who studies philosophy, and by that I mean the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. But it literally means 'lover of wisdom'." I explained and Naruto was nodding at my every word.

"Now that you've explained it... you really are a philosopher, nii-chan!" Naruto said, a grin splitting his tiny face from ear to ear. I smiled back.

"Well... it is getting rather late and we have a house to explore, don't we?" The Third said, while rising from his rather comfortable looking chair.


	3. Chapter 3 Home

Hidden beneath deep patches of sakura ( cherry ) trees that were in bloom, even if it was late winter, this was especially peculiar, sakura blossoms should not have appeared until late January, this was late November.

"May I ask how the sakura trees are blossoming?" I asked, throwing an inquisitive glance towards the Third who was taking his time strolling down the forest path that led through the beautiful cherry trees, a mixture of both white and pink.

"What do you mean, nii-chan? You told me that flowers are the way trees reproduce..." Naruto said, now as confused as ever.

"The birds and the bees, Menma-kun? I'm not surprised that you know of 'it' since you are quite the scholar if I may say so, I was not unlike you in my younger years, but isn't it a bit too early for Naruto-kun to learn of such things?" I could have sworn the old man's eyebrows jumped up his forehead, up his scalp and were now hiding somewhere on the back of his neck.

"He he, it's nothing like that, old man, he just asked me about flowers and you know how I can't say no to Naruto-kun..." I said while rubbing the back of my head with one hand and ruffling my brother's hair with the other.

"To explain your question, they are always in bloom, it is the effect of a particularly intelligent seal." I nodded in acceptance and so did Naruto.

The awkward moment soon passed when an ornate, brass gate appeared before us, in the middle were two large circles, one depicting the Namikaze clan symbol, which seemed to oddly resemble the Republic's logo in the Star Wars universe, but different, it consisted of a solid circle surrounded by 6 concentric trapezoids and space further apart another 6 shapes, three of them resembled an L shape and the other three looked more like straight lined Cs, similar to keys and locks, they alternated to form another concentric circle. The other circle depicted the Uzumaki clan symbol, swirls on a red background, originally white. I suspected they changed it because the clan was now practically extinct, save for Karin and Nagato, Naruto and I weren't exactly Uzumakis any more. There was also a smaller metallic sphere that protruded slightly at waist level from the door, engraved with circular sealing patterns, I had a feeling about what it was.

"A blood seal, correct?"

"That is precise, Menma-kun, I'm quite surprised that you recognized such an advanced seal." the Third's eyebrows once again adopted their sky-high state.

"I didn't recognize it per se, I knew it was a seal of some sorts, Uzumaki by the looks of the swirls, and I just figured it was some sort of security seal to keep intruders at bay." I explained my reasoning, but the Third had a smug smile on his face.

"Well... you would have normally been spot on, but this is not a regular blood seal, it is a barrier seal and it connects to both your blood, chakra and subconscious. It only permits entry if there is another clan member on the premises AND if only good intentions are being harboured, entering outside of those parameters, intruders would be induced extreme vertigo and their brain would stop any pulmonary function, thus forcing them outside the property. Truly magnificent fūinjutsu, from a true master of the art." pride beaming in 'the Professor's' eyes.

"Our mother was amazing, wasn't she?" I asked, the same emotion reflected in my own eyes.

"That she was, and she also wouldn't want us to spend the whole day outside the porch, would you do the honours?"

I gently approached the gate and pushed it open, no creaking sound escaped the hinges, even after three years of inactivity. What stood before me was a stone path surrounded on either side by beautiful, but not crowded gardens, it bred a very peaceful atmosphere and straight ahead, there was a house, minimalistic in its design but breathtaking nonetheless, ebony wooden pillars and floors constructed of the same material, glass walls, crystal clear, save for a few that were blurred and red marble details and flooring, it was certainly tasteful. I could already glance around the innards of the house thanks to the glass walls and I could already see that it was inspired by a Japanese home but with modern touches. It had tatami mats on the floor of the living room and the same marble flooring elsewhere. All the furniture was of walnut wood and the walls were various shades of yellow, ranging from a pale beige to something akin to a fiery orange, the walls were decorated with various landscape paintings, of which I could only recognize the one portraying the Valley of the End.

"This... is... incredible..." Naruto muttered under his breath, stressing every word like it was his last in a dream that would end soon.

"The house is now yours and so are its responsibilities. Complex seal arrays are laid over basically every surface, so you won't have to care for the garden, the pond or the training grounds, which are also protected from ninjutsu by the same array, neither will you have to worry about the maintenance of the furniture or the building itself, but you WILL have to clean the house, clean after yourselves and prepare your own sustenance, I expect Menma-kun here to not bow to Naruto-kun's and, to some extent, his own feelings about a certain dish containing noodles in a broth and ensure a balanced diet for you both, one suitable for young shinobi in training." I could only chuckle sheepishly at his comments about ramen, apparently our love for it was deeply, deeply ingrained in our DNA or something. Whereas I found ramen an acceptable and sometimes a delectable dish in my previous life, I could not live for more than a week without eating ramen now. Naruto, though, seemed to have ignored every word except the 'young shinobi in training' part, it seemed magical to him.

"Moreover, you each will inherit half of the Namikaze family fortune, but in gradual amounts. As a starting point, I have authorised you for 5% each. You can also access your legacy, via the family's library, that occupies almost the entirety of the upper floor, the rest of which is occupied by the armoury, in which you can find various shinobi outfits and equipment, both basic and advanced. You can also find sealing supplies in your father's study, located in the underground floor." after his explanation, I could see the years on the man's face again and he deserved a rest after all this work.

"You look tired, old man, how about you take the main bedroom and sleep here tonight? I'll wake up at first light and go shop for groceries and the like and prepare breakfast." his eyes softened and he visibly relaxed, it seemed that he didn't want to impose but was very grateful for the offer nonetheless.

"Thank you, Menma-kun. I've had a long day and I will go enjoy the short time I will have until the next. I wish you both a peaceful and pleasant night in your new home." he said, standing up and heading down the main hallway, slight exhaustion showing by his laboured steps.

"What do you think about it?" I asked, referring to our new home.

"Well... it's kinda big, but they had really good taste, and I love all the orange! Also, it feels like home... I can't explain it but it's drawing to me in a way..." he said with a puzzled expression, I of course understood the feeling very well, even if I lived in a world where chakra was the accepted binding agent of the universe, I still had the philosophy of a Jedi and chakra was so much like the Force that I couldn't help but think like one. Of course we were both drawn to it, the Force basically willed us to it, it was filled with our parents' old belongings and chakra, the Force basically rooted us here, it was the place where we were strongest and most at peace, filled with both physical and spiritual chakra. It was the place where we would grow strong – to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and the fate of everybody and everything around us.


	4. Chapter 4 Two Apprentices

It had been two years since we had moved in and I started teaching Naruto about both chakra, its history, how to access it and control exercises. I also taught him the Kage Bunshin ( Shadow Clone ), not only to speed up his training significantly but because I always associated it with him. He could now perform a Kawarimi ( Body Replacement ) with just two seals instead of the usual five, I also urged him to study up on the Henge ( Transformation ) and figure out a way to make it his own, since his Oiroke no Jutsu ( Sexy Jutsu ) in canon was both faster, required less seals and also a better transformation than the normal Henge.

More importantly, I taught him my own style of Taijutsu, consisting of both grappling and throwing in the form of Judo and striking, in the form of Kyokushin Karate, arguably a very brutal Martial Art because of the harsh training required, but I figured it would teach him both self-discipline and useful techniques. I also hinted how he could use shadow clones in combination with his attacks and he already had a style reminiscent of later canon Naruto.

The most progress for me was that I discovered, while meditating, that the Rinnegan gravitational techniques were not a Kekkei Genkai ( Bloodline Limit ), and that I could feel everything around me and control them telekinetically, up to a point. I could now lift around three medium-sized rocks while meditating and my pull-push techniques were pretty pathetic, but I already had enormous success in enhancing my combat manoeuvres. It was due to this that I had finally started to see some development in my lightsaber form training. I found that I preferred training in forms IV and V, Ataru and Shien/Djem So respectively. Ataru was also called the aggression form and it was great for single opponent duels, using a combination of fast strikes, acrobatics and was also quite unpredictable. It was great for single opponents but also quite aggressive and practically useless against ranged attacks and multiple opponents, and for that reason I was also practising form V. This form had two names, because it was split into two somewhat different styles, Shien and Djem So. Shien was originally developed for defending against Blaster Bolts and returning them to their point of origin, so I could safely use it against kunai and shuriken, I started training with upwards of 100 clones all projecting at me and I could return around a third of the fire thrown at me and safely avoid or deflect the rest, very rarely getting glanced by some. I attributed this to my Jedi training, since I could basically sense the ripples in the chakra around me when a projectile was nearing me, it amounted to a sixth sense of some sort. Djem So was developed for lightsaber combat, so I could easily adapt it to kenjutsu, it focused on waiting for an opponents blow and then immediately countering and either returning it or exploiting an opponent's weakness, I already knew all the sequences and I was sparring with either one very pumped up clone or multiple weaker ones, since this style could be safely used against multiple opponents. I frequently used a reverse grip when fighting in Shien and Djem So, and a regular grip when using Ataru. I had promised Naruto I would get him started in kenjutsu and tomorrow was his first day and I was really looking forward to how he would do. He already had a decent grip on the Force and he was already practising the five different meditations daily, like myself.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"So what am I going to learn, will I be able to overpower everybody and slash stuff up?!" he practically screamed at me while bouncing in anticipation, I merely shrugged.

"Do not see a duel as a choice between winning and losing. Every duel can have many, many outcomes. When you concentrate solely on winning—in duels as in everything else—you sully your victory. Winning becomes worse than losing. It is better to lose than to win sorely. And it is always better to end a duel peacefully than to win or lose." I practically quoted Rekpa De, a Jedi Master that taught young apprentices in lightsaber combat.

"I see... so I must have self-discipline and also look at the bigger implications of my actions, you know, nii-chan, you don't always have to talk in riddles..." I merely smiled for a moment and then straightened my features out, eyebrows relaxing and eyes sharpening to a point.

"Well... you remember what I have thought you so far about the Force and the Code? And also my multiple lessons on how to behave and what is acceptable for a shinobi?" he caught on to my serious tone and expression and only nodded once in acceptance.

"What I am going to be teaching you must not be shared with ANYONE and you shall not brag about it in any way, shape or form, the same can be said about the Code and the Force. I will not make you promise this, but until you do, I have nothing to teach you."

"I promise, nii-chan, you can always trust my promises." he said, the determination burning in his vibrant blue eyes.

"Very well. What I am and what I have been trying to teach you all these years, ever since we could talk, is how to be a Jedi."

"What's a Jedi? It sounds funny and I have never heard of that word before..." his eyes narrowing and mouth tilting diagonally, eyebrows scrunched up in thought.

"The Jedi are the guardians of peace and justice in the world. We study, serve and use the energy of the Force. The force is our ally, and a powerful one it is. Training to become a Jedi is not an easy challenge, and even if you succeed, it's a hard life. You are not allowed to bend to your emotions and your actions should be in service of others and not yourself, most importantly, though, you always have to bend to the will of the Force, only acting against it if the people you care about are in danger, for compassion is the strength of the Jedi." he was nodding intently at my every word and absorbing any and all hidden meanings scattered throughout, I had prepared him for this moment his whole life and preparing myself all the same.

"This is a manual, of sorts. It is written by myself and it contains both the history of the Jedi Order, rules and other important knowledge for a Jedi, I have also included all seven of the lightsaber forms, although I am only proficient in the first five. Study this and keep it in pristine condition. I will go to procure appropriate clothes today, in the mean time, read up." I said, while handing him a leather-bound copy with the symbol of the republic stamped on it, I had already written it exactly how I remembered it and had ten copies of it prepared.

"Only one question... what's a lightsaber?" Naruto asked, nothing other than curiosity shown on his features.

"It is the weapon of the Jedi Knight, an elegant weapon for a more civilised age. I do not know if we will ever be able to make one, but those forms should be sufficient for kenjutsu, they are perfect combat forms." I explained, truthfully. I was preparing to make the necessary parts but there was one that was, to my knowledge, never obtained in this universe – the crystal, the heart of the lightsaber.

"I will, however, leave you with one final precept, think about it before you proceed with those forms. Remember, a Jedi fights only as a last resort. If you are forced to draw your lightsaber, you have already forfeited much of your advantage. A Jedi trusts the Force and at first seeks other ways to resolve problems: patience, logic, tolerance, attentive listening, negotiation, persuasion, calming techniques. But there are times when a Jedi must fight." I quoted a Jedi Grand Master, namely Luke Skywalker, in his later years. Knowledge is power, as they say.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

I gently pushed open the door of 'The Sharpened Kunai', one of the most reliable and trusted outfitters of shinobi weapons and apparel, with which I had placed an order several weeks prior. The Third recommended the shop to me and said that the owner was the supplier of Hiraishin Kunai for my father, so I figured he wouldn't charge me three times the price because I was the container of Kurama. I entered the shop and every wall was filled with various weapons and shinobi clothing, some storage scrolls and other various items. I navigated the shop and reached what I had been searching for, the clerk's desk. What stood before me was a forty-something aged man, with brown hair that had grey streaks in it at the sides and steel grey eyes, I silently noticed how he seemed to be in great physical shape under his blacksmith's leather apron and the dark marks on his fingers from smelting and forging metal. When he identified who I was, his expression softened slightly in regret and he cleared his throat.

"You must be Uzumaki-san. You've arrived right on time, your highly specific order of three sets of each outfit are ready and also your shinobigatana." I had ordered three sets of Jedi outfits for me and three for my brother, both of them were ceremonial Jedi robes, as opposed to the standard Jedi apparel and so looked vastly different and were more appropriate for use in the shinobi world, they were more compact, the top didn't extend past the belt except for a sash that went around the left leg. They also had a hood so they could be used without the larger, bulky Jedi robes. Mine were white and had dark brown, almost burgundy coloured strips of material that went around the waist, hands and formed the sash around the left leg. Naruto's were also white but the strips were a faded, light orange. Our boots were both black and quite form fitting. ( Author's Note: just google ceremonial Jedi robes if you don't understand how they look. ) I had also ordered a shinobigatana, a type of straight-edged katana, also known as a ninjatou. It had a relatively thin and light blade, all black with the obvious pattern of Damascus ( Author's Note: Also, hard to explain, I suggest seeing a photo if you don't know how it looks ) steel, it seemed that better blacksmiths could pattern-weld in the Narutoverse as well and that fact combined with the obvious quality of steel that surpassed the real world by miles resulted in a very light, sharp but strong blade that retained its edge perfectly, the fact that it was chakra-conductive was just an added bonus. The sword had no guard and its grip was weighed somewhat and made of a type of ebony, its balance resembled that of a lightsaber and that's why I had it commissioned. The scabbard was matte black and had a sharpening and straightening seal on it so the edge never dulled. I was happy with the result and the man had been truthful enough to warrant my next step.

"Thank you, Mr. -?"

"Masamune, Gorō Masamune." The fact that he shared his name with the most famous Japanese blacksmith in 'real' life history didn't surprise me as much as it seemed, what did however was the sudden appearance of a six or seven year old girl with brown haired buns and the same steel grey eyes as her father. This was Tenten's father, of course.

"Daddy, who is this boy? I've never seen him around the village before and we don't normally allow children unsupervised in here." she said while huffing and crossing her arms over her chest, I found it much cuter than I should have.

"Ten-chan, this here is Menma Uzumaki. He is a client and I expect you to treat him with respect, I do believe that this isn't the last time he will come here, because my expertise is unmatched in the village!" he said with a booming laugh while patting the back of his daughter.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Tenten-san, but I was hoping to discuss something private with Masamune-san, if you would allow it." I bowed both in greeting and submission.

"Certainly, Uzumaki-san, right this way, I'll lead you to my *cough* 'office'." He said while gesturing me to follow and leading me to what seemed to be the forge. He closed the door and set up a few basic privacy seals.

"Thank you for the order. I would like to place an order on something... more difficult to manufacture, and a rather innovative field in the elemental nations." I explained and his curiosity was visibly burning on his features.

"Lord Hokage warned me that you were an extremely smart young man and the fact that you designed your own blade so minutely is certainly impressive, but do you really think that I haven't seen whatever it is you wish to show me?" he asked with a straight face, he either knew exactly what I was talking about or he was arrogance embodied. I slipped into my back pouch and pulled out several designs, each depicting a piece of a lightsaber, most of which could be easily constructed – it had a Hashirama Wood grip, for its lightweight but resistant frame, the pommel was slightly weighed and continued the lines of the rest of the weapon, the metal pieces it was made of were all chakra conductive and were detailed with pale-gold filigree, it had an emitter, a focusing lens and all the other features of a lightsaber, but no crystal as that was much harder to produce. The blacksmith looked over the plans and was apparently deep in thought, not as surprised as I expected him to be.

"You have seen a similar design before?" I asked tentatively.

"In a way. Not quite as advanced as this. Using a chakra battery, a focusing lens and those other implements is absolutely brilliant... But there is a missing piece here that was present in the original design..." now here I was expecting the blacksmith to be in a loss of words... when it was me who was speechless.

"May I ask... where have you seen something like this before?" my lips now slightly open, my face slightly too close to the man's own and my hands gently trembling in anticipation.

"A long time ago, my father constructed a weapon similar to this, for the second Hokage. It was called the Raijin no Ken ( Sword of the Thunder God )." The stolen sword that man... Aoi used to fight a young Sasuke and Naruto in canon! How did I never think of that?! It's practically a lightning-based primitive lightsaber!

"Although, this weapon that you have designed – it makes the Raijin no Ken look like an antique in comparison... The energy is not wasted and the way in which is constructed transforms the chakra into pure light, therefore increasing its cutting power and making it virtually indestructible by usual means."

"Is there a way you can make it, according to my specifications?" I asked, hopeful that I could finally have a lightsaber, the perfect weapon for a Jedi.

"Yes... although I will have to use pattern-welded steel like in your blade to maintain the strength and prevent warping. Although there is a missing piece, that I have no knowledge of – I do know that it focused the user's chakra into pure energy... I believe it was a crystal of sorts." he explained and I now looked exactly like my brother, bouncing about in excitement.

"Also, there will be issues in constructing it and bonding the pieces together, it won't be an easy task." Of course it wasn't an easy task, it was a rite of passage for Jedi to procure their own crystal from the caves of Illum and then construct their own lightsaber with only the use of the Force, the metal HAD to be chakra conductive for that reason alone and the process took upwards of a few days to complete, that's why only Jedi and Sith managed to use lightsabers, civilians couldn't construct them, couldn't attune their own crystals and couldn't wield them without the guidance of the force, powerful weapon as it may be, a blaster was far simpler to use, you just point and shoot.

"Thank you, Masamune-san, for everything. I know a way of constructing and bonding the pieces... now there is one piece left, I don't imagine it would be an easy task to fulfil. It is possible I will present you with a second order for similar parts, when my brother grows proficient enough in his studies. On a more personal matter, I know about your history with my late parents, and I would also like to thank you on behalf of them, your work has a great presence in our home." I bowed deeply in gratitude, the man deserved to know that me and Naruto also knew what he knew. Wow, what a tongue-twister.

"So the old man told you, eh? I'm not surprised, you seem like a responsible kid, you remind me a lot of your old man. It's a terrible thing what happened – leaving two children like you alone. I tried not to get involved in your lives because I had no real reason to do so unless I knew your parents..." he said regretfully.

"There is no reason to apologise, Masamune-san. What happened is now in the past and we should not cling to it, there is still time to make up for our mistakes." I said with a smile, my respect for the man was growing steadily with every word that came out of his mouth.

"You're right. I want you to know that if you ever need equipment or any kind of help, you are always welcome under my roof. If you want to, you can train with my daughter as well, she will be quite the weapon mistress when she's older, I'm sure, she's already worked out some weapon seals that are very useful."

"Much obliged, Masamune-san, although I will have to respectfully decline the offer for now. I believe that there is still time for us to develop our skills in our own ways and then contribute to each other's training... Consider it cementing our identity." I said with wisdom that far exceeded my years, studying every word that Yoda said or wrote really changed you, for the better. I guess those are the benefits that come with 900 years of experience, 800+ of which he was a Jedi Master...

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

Naruto and I were both dressed in our new attires and I was already happy with the choice, not as bulky as normal Jedi apparel, but very comfortable and allowed even more range of motion, also better suited to the warm climate of the fire nation, the material was surprisingly light for how it looked, it also allowed the concealment of MANY weapons, perfect for both shinobi and Jedi alike.

"Why don't I get a cool sword?" Naruto said, eyeing my new weapon hungrily.

"You are not responsible enough to warrant the use of one and training with one might hurt you more than your targets. Call it self-preservation, if you will. One more thing, as long as we are training, I expect you to address me as 'Master', while I will address you as 'Padawan'."

"Yes, Master, but aren't I an initiate? That's what the first step is in the manual you gave me..."

"No, you are past the level of initiate, I have been training you all your life. We are both Padawan. Usually, I would have to be trained under the tutelage of a Jedi Knight or Jedi Master, but there are none at this moment in time, therefore if I pass the five trials I will be considered a Jedi Knight. You are still my apprentice and Padawan, though, so you better get to work. What are your thoughts on the seven forms, my young Padawan?" I was now grinning, I always wanted to say that! I should start speaking like Yoda when I'm teaching, I'm pretty sure he knew how to speak properly, but the way in which he turned sentences backwards actually makes them more respectful and easier to understand... Think about that, I will.

"I have read about them and I will have to learn Form I, Shii-Cho, obviously – it's the basis for all other forms... I have tons of stamina and I should learn how to be patient, so Form III, Soresu, would be nice... it's focused on defending using efficient movement and blocking all paths of attack, it also works well against multiple opponents, I would be great at that! Also... I was thinking of Form II, Makashi, it sounds really amazing, it's focused on duelling other lightsaber users and it's elegant and precise, with lots of stabbing motions and exact strikes, while my personality wouldn't be good for it, I would learn many things by mastering it! You always say how I have to be more patient, gracious and less brash – this would be a perfect opportunity!" Naruto said with his trademark foxy grin, I was proud that he decided on forms that would actually teach him more than combat.

"Very well, Padawan, I expect you to study the forms in private, I will help you with any shortcomings and after you have learned the basic moves, you can show me and I will correct you. You can spar with your clones or with myself. Once you have mastered the basics, and make no mistake, it will not be an easy task, I will work with you one on one to develop your own style. Do not skip on your meditations or your training with the Force, its importance is great in itself and in your combat training. I expect you to gain an intermediate proficiency in both until you enter the academy, when we will introduce elemental ninjutsu and other disciplines. On another note, have you been getting some urges lately?"

"What do you mean, ni-Master, what kind of urges?"

"Oh I don't know, like 'decorating' the Hokage Mountain or other such... inappropriate... pranks? Mostly in order to gain the attention of the villagers..." I explained, I really didn't want Naruto to become the prankster of doom, it would have been fine if it had been something he enjoyed in canon but it was to get attention and I wouldn't have any of that.

"I was thinking of ways to get the attention of the villagers... but that would have just been stupid, ne? I was thinking of becoming a great shinobi like dad was and becoming Hokage! That would be a great way to garner the attention of the village!" he said exuberantly and I just smiled.

"Remember, when a Jedi behaves badly in public, an observer might think, 'If this Jedi is a representative of the whole Order, then plainly no Jedi is worth respect.' On meeting a second Jedi, who behaves better than the first, that same person might think, 'Does this say that half the Jedi are good, and half bad?' On meeting a third Jedi, who behaves as well as the second, the person thinks, 'Was the first Jedi an exception, then?' In this way, only by the good behaviour of several Jedi can the public be certain that the poor behaviour of one Jedi was unusual. Thus, it takes many Jedi to undo the mistakes of one."

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"You called for me, Lord Hokage?" I asked in a dignified way, when you were summoned by the Hokage, you acted like it.

"At ease, Menma-kun, would you like some tea?" he asked, motioning me to sit down and his assistant to bring refreshments.

"That would be lovely, jiji." I used the affectionate term that Naruto devised for the old man, he was kind of like a grandfather to us so it wasn't disrespectful in any way.

"The reason that I have called you here relates to shinobi matters. I believe you are ready to go to the Academy but I wouldn't dare split you and your brother apart so soon, and I wouldn't want you to skip on your Academy experience either... so I have come to a conclusion."

"I see... what is to happen to me?"

"Menma-kun, you needn't think that you have no say in these matters, it is YOUR decision to make, after all. I was thinking of setting up an apprenticeship with you, to induct you in ANBU once you complete your training. Doing this would greatly upset the council due to... unrelated matters -"

"Jiji, I know about the fox, you don't have to hide things from me." I said warmly, trying to convey the fact that I'm not upset to the man.

"I see... why am I not surprised? I will assume that Naruto-kun doesn't know as of yet." I nodded "Very well, the council doesn't see you as human beings and they would want you used as weapons for the village, especially Danzou-san... therefore, the true state of things shall not be revealed."

"I see... so I will undergo an apprenticeship and I will attend the Academy at the same time, but I would actually be an ANBU in disguise the entire time... I would be under your direct orders so the council wouldn't know about the training... expertly planned if I may say so. What about after graduation, I refuse to accept that a member of a three-man cell would be discarded for my sake...

"No, nothing like that, your apprenticeship would be merely transferred to the Jounin sensei assigned to your brother's team and you would only participate in missions C-rank or higher. Think of it as insurance of sorts, there are many bright Genin in your generation."

"I am well aware of that, and I agree with this plan. Thank you, jiji, for believing in my ability enough to warrant such unorthodox treatment." I bowed deeply once again, humility was part of the Jedi way after all.

"Your teacher will be a Tokubetsu Jounin, waiting for you at Training Ground 44. You are expected to be there in twenty minutes, good luck, Naruto-kun."

"Thank you, jiji, I will not disappoint you." I bowed a final time and headed towards TG44. Will it be Ebisu, he was a special jounin... or... wait, isn't TG44? The Forest of Death.


	5. Chapter 5 The Three Trials

I arrived in front of the Forest of Death and there, leaning back on a tree, clad in fishnets, and undershirt, a tight orange skirt and a trench coat was a seventeen year old Anko Mitarashi. Now I, like any hot-blooded teenager, didn't mind Anko and her antics too much, especially her first appearances in canon, sure she could be a little... deranged at times, but she had a spunky attitude and was extremely attractive, and that's saying a lot where practically every kunoichi I had seen so far had next to perfect bodies and no facial flaws what-so-ever. It wasn't a matter of finding an attractive kunoichi, it was more of finding one who wasn't an idiot or boring, Anko Mitarashi was neither. She opened her left eye lazily and I smiled, tightening my grip on the brown bag in my right hand.

"Who are you brat? I'm waiting for my new apprentice, so you better scram." she said lazily.

"Why Anko-san, I'm hurt, what makes you think I'm not the person you are waiting for?" I asked teasingly and she raised her left eyebrow at this, I could have bet it wasn't often people teased her back.

"You? You're like three or something." she said with a scowl. I was up for this game.

"And how about you? You're like thirty or something..." I said with a smug smile.

"You lil' brat, come here! I'll show you thirty..." she said, while rolling up her sleeves in preparation of an ass kicking.

"If you beat me up, you won't get your share of what I have in this bag here." I declared while shaking the brown paper bag in front of my face, her smile only grew.

"What makes you think I want any of your candy pacifiers? Damn brats." she scoffed and crossed her arms together.

"That's fine, then. I'll just eat all this dango, by myself." I said while shrugging and producing a picnic blanket and sitting down, Anko was pale as a ghost and her eyes were twitching, a drop of drool already collected at the corner of her mouth.

"Would you like to join me, Anko-chan?" I asked and she nodded dumbly with a glazed expression in her eyes.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"So you're my apprentice, brat? I guess I could have had worse, you brought me dango, after all." she said while finishing her last dango and the smiley face on a nearby tree made of toothpicks at the same time.

"Well... you're stuck with me. I'm sorry to not be up to your expectations..." I said with a sigh while looking at the ground, I wasn't really being serious but it was fun messing with Anko. Her expression visibly darkened and she immediately reached for me with my hand, I just raised my head a bit to show the smug smile on my face and she froze.

"Oh, you're _good." _she muttered under her breath.

"You haven't told me your name, kid." she said somewhat questioningly.

"If I tell you my name, you're going to have to use it, I don't fancy being in the same pot as all the other 'brats' in your life." I said with a fake pout.

"Fine, fine. I like you already, anyway." she said while punching my arm playfully, I just grinned.

"It's Menma, Uzumaki Menma."

"Menma-kun, eh? You and your brother are very famous, you know that?"

"You shouldn't talk about the fox, snake lady." I said with a wink and she was now wearing the same shit eating grin I was earlier.

"Let's get down to business then. Are you good with that sword you carry around your waist, Menma?" she asked, pointing to my ninjatou.

"I don't know, you got one?" I asked, genuinely curious since I had seen no kenjutsu from Anko in canon.

"Of course, all snake summoners are proficient in kenjutsu." she said while doing a quick Summoning Jutsu, a purple snake stood upright and opened its mouth, revealing a chokutou, similar to my sword except for the tip, which ended in a curve rather than a straight line, it didn't have a guard either and the handle was all black. The blade was typically polished. I drew my own blade and did a Makashi salute, blade first turned away from me, hilt raised to the middle of my chest, splitting my image in the middle, then hand extended to the side, like splashing drops of blood from the blade.

"Cute form, but this isn't a dance lesson." she said while preparing to lunge.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." referring to Darth Vader's quote about the Force, in a light-hearted way, of course. Anko lunged, a strike aimed for my chest but not lethal if left unattended, I was hoping she would at least try to fight at full force. I simply parried in Shien style, with a light flourish, leaving my blade's edge at Anko's throat.

"Anko-chan, you are not going to even come close to me if you don't attack me at full strength." she nodded and retreated two steps, I moved into my Shien stance 1, blade held in a reverse grip behind my back and my left hand slightly in front of me preparing to counter.

Anko once again launched herself at me, this time dropping her body weight and attacking at my waist, at full speed, but against Shien's defensive capabilities, this strike was going in slow motion and was unimpressive by all standards, I merely turned clockwise, deflected the blow behind my back and raised my sword in an upwards slash, Anko saw my move a little too late and struggled to dodge it, barely avoiding the strike by jumping back. I switched to a Djem So stance and twirled the blade in an 8 motion two times, each offset by a bit and on either side. When I finished the flourish I ended in a downwards diagonal strike, with Force assisted strength, Anko barely had time to bring her sword up to block but the unexpected strength of the blow disarmed her, her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open. It's not everyday you get to see a shocked Mitarashi Anko.

"How the? You're just a kid! You're a damn five year old!" she said, still disbelieving.

"Ah! So you knew that it was me when you first saw me! I knew it, I don't look like a three year old!" I said teasingly, she merely smiled, picked up her weapon and returned it to the beautiful purple snake.

"Firstly, Menma, yes, I knew I was going to teach you from the beginning. What I don't know is how you managed to best me not once, but twice in kenjutsu, and what kind of style is that? You seemed to be switching stances every time I engaged and I don't know anybody who can handle a blade like that! Even the snake bastard was hard pressed to beat me in straight up kenjutsu, granted I'm out of practice, but not overly so!" she was merely pouting now, to think that a five year old beat her - I actually had upwards of ten or so years of experience, not counting the fact that I had been using shadow clones for a good two years of that and my fighting style was far more refined, efficient and Force-enhanced at the same time, I didn't even use Ataru, my best attacking style, on the poor girl.

"I can't really tell you much about my style, yet. I can tell you there are three forms that I mastered, and two with which I am advanced, such as that first salute that I did. Also, they aren't meant for regular swords, originally." I said, rubbing the back of my head in shame, I hated lying and I was forced to do a whole ton of it.

"That's very descriptive and not at all vague..." she muttered under her breath but I could clearly hear her.

"Okay, you're good at kenjutsu, I'll give you that. How about your Taijutsu, your Ninjutsu and your Genjutsu?" she asked.

"My Taijutsu is all around balanced and I'm quite good at it, my Ninjutsu is limited at the moment, I don't have any elemental jutsu now, but I can do seal-less Kawarimi ( Replacement ) and some other useful jutsu. I am extremely bad at Genjutsu, I don't have the control for it and I never will, my capacity is just too large..." I said a bit disappointed.

"What do you mean, too large? I can't sense that much chakra in you." she said unimpressed.

"Well... I'm suppressing it, obviously, you wouldn't want a guy running around in a bright orange suit in your ANBU squad, would you?" I said, while releasing my full capacity for a few seconds, and then suppressing it back, Anko flinched a bit like hit by a flash from a camera.

"Okay, your reserves are insane, kid, must be the – you know." I nodded, couldn't tell anybody that I was actually the son of the Fourth and a kunoichi that had probably more chakra than the First, what with Uzumaki genes and Kurama on top of that.

"Anything else about your Ninjutsu before we spar a bit?" she asked, eager to kick my ass by the looks of it.

"Yeah... I know how to do Shadow Clones, and I can pump out... maybe over two thousand or so at full capacity, but that's kind of dangerous and the mental kick when I dispel them would knock me out probably." she nodded me to continue "I can also do a... different kind of jutsu, not quite elemental, but I can guarantee you haven't seen anything like it, although if you want me to show you, you have to swear to me that you won't tell ANYONE about it, not even the Third. Only me and my brother know of this." I explained sagely and she was hesitant to nod but did.

"I swear on dango, Menma-kun. I never swear on dango." she said officially and I could tell the conviction in her voice.

"Well... it's easier to show you, I guess..." I said while closing my eyes and focusing slightly on her, I could feel the Force flowing around her, like a rock caught in a stream, Naruto was more like a blade, only cutting it slightly and funnily enough, me and the Third for some reason just let it flow through us. The more in tune with the Force you were, the easier you would accept it and let it guide you. I opened my eyes and Anko seemed impatient.

"Well... any time you're ready now..." she said.

"Look down." I told her and she seemed rather confused for a second but did so nonetheless, her eyes almost flew out of her skull when she started running in the air, I was levitating her like I did myself when meditating.

"What is this?" she asked, now genuinely awestruck, I gently laid her back on the ground and started explaining.

"It's called the Force, it's an energy that surrounds us and binds us all together, it's in everything, be it living or lifeless... it can help me to some extent but it has a will of its own of sorts... Let's just say I can't go against it and it bends to my will when it accepts to." it was really difficult to explain to someone who was so used to chakra and how chakra is yours and you can do whatever you want with it, it actually wasn't yours and it wasn't as easy as Academy textbooks made it out to be.

"It allows me to telekinetically control objects, and also to enhance my body, my senses, to predict events in the near future to some extent, to preemptively enhance a part of my body to reduce damage, to speed up healing and to absorb energy, but I'm not really good at that last one. Of course, this were just combat related attributes, the Force is much greater than that."

Anko was confused, very much so, she thought about it for a whole ten minutes and then her face showed embarrassment, lots of it, she was ashamed of something apparently. She bowed deeply and asked formally.

"I would be honoured to learn more about the Force. Not because it can be used in combat, but because..." she paused for a moment "I'm confused, and I don't know where to continue with my life... I could use the guidance of the Force, if what you say is true... then.. maybe..." my expression softened, I would never have thought that Anko, of all people, would seek guidance from a five year old, in the ways of the Force, no less, I was touched.

"It would be my pleasure to guide you, Anko." I said and bowed back, but not quite as deep, just to show the fact that I respected her truthfulness. At hearing this she jumped at me and glomped me in one of the tightest hugs in my life, and Naruto hugged TIGHTLY.

"Anko-chan, I... c..n..t..b..r...t-" I said choking on every sound, and she immediately relaxed her grip and was now rubbing the back of her head in reminiscence to what Naruto and I did, with a sheepish expression on her face.

"Sorry 'bout that, Menma-kun, I just... lost it for a minute there." she chuckled lightly and I returned it with a full-on grin.

"How about that spar?" I asked and prepared my Kyokushin stance, she smirked and got into her own stance, which looked somewhat like taekwondo but with knees bent and leaning, prepared to jump forward, she looked like a coiled snake.

"Hebi ( snake )?" I asked, a bit confused by the stance.

"Ah, so you know this style... I'm surprised, not many people live to tell the tale." she commented, but I just shrugged.

"I don't know that style, it's just that you look like a coiled snake in that stance, it's quite intimidating, if I was a lesser character, perhaps." I said smugly and she lunged, immediately aiming for my solar plexus and landing a glancing blow when I bent back, momentarily knocking the air out of my lungs, she reached down with her hands and once again coiled up before lunging at me feet first, I barely blocked the strike but my arms were now numbed up because of the strength, not good. I reached out for the Force and let it surround me, giving me the boost of speed I needed and from less than arm's reach I raised my foot up in a roundhouse kick to Anko's head, something which she definitely didn't expect, Kyokushin Karate was very close-quarters from that point of view. She barely managed to absorb some of the impact with her forearms but got lightly slapped by my foot in the ear enough to knock some of the balance in her stance, I immediately grabbed her, turned and launched the back of my thigh in her left inner leg, propelling her forwards and up over my right leg, I threw her hard on the ground and followed with a ju-jitsu ground immobilisation, I was over her on four of my limbs, my right arm was behind her neck and was grabbing my left arm that surrounded her neck and right arm in a vice-like grip, my body was over hers and my legs hooked into hers to disable her from moving.

"You like it in this position, don't ya?" she asked while poking out with her tongue, I just smiled, her breasts were pressing into my chest but I was far too young in this body to do anything about it.

"You give up? Or should I try something that I haven't done in a long time?" she was now chuckling lightly.

"Show me what you got, tiger." she asked, struggling to get out of my grip, I merely nodded and hooked my right palm in my left elbow, now my forearm right over Anko's throat in the front, I applied just enough pressure to stop from collapsing her trachea with the bladed part of my forearm now applying direct pressure to her windpipe, she immediately choked a few insults and was now tapping violently with her free hand on my back to let her free, her face was red as a tomato and her eyes were bulging out of their sockets.

"What the heck was that brat, I thought you liked me, now you try to kill me?" she said furiously.

"I offered you a chance at surrendering, besides, I was only teaching you a lesson." I said seriously.

"And what's that? Don't trust your allies?" she said, thinking she had won the argument.

"The acceptance of others is not a guarantee. Like everyone else, a shinobi is accepted or not based on his behaviour. The shinobi who believes that he is more important than others only demonstrates that his opinion is to be ignored. It's a lesson about-"

"Arrogance." she interrupted swiftly "Just because I'm a Tokubetsu Jounin or what other rank, doesn't mean I am above others, like you, not even a Genin."

"I'm not saying that you couldn't beat me, because you could have. Maybe not in kenjutsu, but you probably could have bested me in Taijutsu if you used deadly strikes or those snakes of yours, you could certainly trump me in Ninjutsu as well as overall shinobi skills." she nodded in understanding, the line between Sensei and Student was now blurring and it was more of a two-way relationship – Anko would teach me how to be a real shinobi and I would teach her how to be a Jedi, going to have to work on those emotions of hers, she has to accept her past.

"When we go on missions, you're going to have to wear ANBU attire, mask included, you got any mask you can use or do you want me to go ask the geezer in the tower for one?"

"I'll find a suitable one. I would prefer if you did not refer to the old man as such, he is a kind of grand father figure for me and I wouldn't want my respect for you to diminish, Mitarashi-san." I said darkly, but not overly serious, I just wished that people would address the leader of the village with more respect, especially when not in his presence.

"Ara, ara, I didn't mean any disrespect, Menma-kun. Please, forgive me?" she said with a pout and it seemed quite comical on her round face.

"I could never stay mad at you, Anko, you're too much like me and Naruto." I said while smiling and she nodded in acceptance, it was a touchy subject for her but I wished to rid her of those negative emotions if I was to ever train her to use the Force.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"Good afternoon, Masamune-san. I hope you have been well." I said while smiling at the tall, kind man.

"Ah, Menma-kun, what a surprise! I can't say that I haven't! So, what can this rugged old man do for a young stud like you?" he said while booming laughter filled the room.

"I have another order if it's possible, a classified one at that." I said and he nodded understandingly, motioning me to his 'office'. He set up some privacy seals and I reached into my pouch.

"I have been inducted into the ANBU, so I can receive classified training, you understand how the council would see things if it was not done this way." he nodded once "I'm glad that we are on the same page. Here are the plans, I would like five or six pairs of this outfit, and I'm not sure what materials we could use for it." I opened two schematics, one of a white mask with golden details that looked like a tree on the forehead and splitting the mask down the middle with two elongated marks on the cheeks and two rectangular slits that elongated downwards slightly at the inner corner of the eyes. A Jedi Temple Guard mask and one schematic of Jedi Temple Guard robes, white with overlapping lapels on the chest, doubled shoulder pads, robe that extended to the feed and was open down the middle, revealing the inside legs, brown pants that ended in combat boots with elongated knee pads, a brown utility belt over it and a grey tunic, with light brown cloth gauntlets, it was all completed by a white hood with a darker, grey margin, no piece of skin showing anywhere, not even the neck. ( Author's Note: Google Jedi Temple Guard to get an idea. )

Jedi Temple Guards were the ANBU of the Star Wars universe, protecting the Jedi Temple at all costs, reporting directly to the Jedi Council and doing whatever needed to be done. Masks concealed their identities, signifying the emotional detachment needed for the job.

"Well, I've got an idea, we're only now working with seal enhanced materials that are lightweight but can absorb light impact and are resistant to common blades, I could make this outfit lightweight but still combat-ready. As for the mask, ANBU use a type of polymer for theirs, it's sort of like a lightweight metal but it's almost impossible to break, it's extremely lightweight and it filters poison in the air, impurities, it can also be used to breathe underwater for short periods of time, and you can perfectly see through the eye slits because of a seal, it would be used for armour but it only works for compact surface areas, like the face, any larger and it would crack and warp by itself. I'll have these ready in less than a week, I'll get my daughter to help since she's taking a break from training."

"Why is that?" I asked, worried about Tenten's health, she was my parents' old friend's daughter, so it was only natural.

"She pushed herself a little too far training with weapon seals and got a bad case of chakra exhaustion, she won't be using any chakra or doing anything physically intensive for a while, but sewing is fine." he chuckled light heartedly.

"I hope she has a speedy recovery. Oh, and one more thing Masamune-san, I would like the outer tunic to have the ANBU tattoo embroidered on the lapels, in a faded yellow, barely noticeable but enough to alert allies of my allegiance.

"It will be done, Menma-kun. I'll have it delivered to your home, I suspect that you are living in your old man's house, yeah?"

"Yep. See you around and take care." I smiled and waved at the man and he reciprocated the gesture.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

It had been another two years and it was now time to depart on my first ANBU squad mission, usually it was only me and Anko. My training had gone very well and I had already mastered a little bit of all elemental jutsu, but mostly my two affinities, Lightning and Water. Initially, Anko told me I could have a Ranton ( Storm ) kekkei genkai, but told me that I would have to master both lightning and water first before I had any chances of actually using that, so I had been studying basic fire, wind and earth jutsu, going up to A-rank Raiton and Suiton ( Lightning and Water ), the fact that I knew most of the handseals for jutsus in the anime really paid off, because now I could do a decent Chidori with only half of the seals Sasuke had been using in the Chuunin Exams and I already had most of Kisame's various shark jutsus down, what I was struggling with, though, were my mother's water techniques who bordered or actually were S-ranked, such as a fully controllable Water Hydra. Apparently, my mother had an incredibly strong water affinity, that I inherited, from my mother's notes, she could summon water techniques without a water source while not actually doing many hand seals, if any for A-rank and lower techniques, I wasn't at that point so far, but I could either do seal-less techniques with water present or with seals but without a water source.

"Who's this squirt, Hebi ( snake )?" one of the ANBU present asked, Mongoose by the looks of it, funny being that the mongoose and the snake were natural enemies.

"Ask him yourself, Mongoose." Anko basically spat out his name through her snake-like mask.

"Who are you, brat?" Mongoose questioned.

"You can call me Aegis, Mongoose-san." I bowed to him, acknowledging his seniority in the field.

"Aegis, huh? Are you supposed to protect us or something?"

"I will do everything in my power to do that, yes." I said, the mask changing my voice to a slightly less bodily one, it likened to that of a robot.

"We'll see about that... We're all here, you know the drill, move out!" he said and we all dispersed, standard ANBU formation one, akin to a triangle with just a single member in the side opposite the pointed end. I was the youngest so I was there, protected from frontal attacks, but watching everyone's back. Mongoose was leading and Anko was in the second row. Our mission was simple, in theory. A castle was overtaken by missing nin from Iwagakure ( Hidden Rock ) that allied with missing nin from Kusagakure ( Hidden Grass ). It was now being held in a stalemate, threatening to end the life of several high-profile Konoha politicians that were having a meeting with the Konoha Daimyo ( Territorial Lord ). The castle was located at the border with grass country, which lead into rock, so I couldn't really wonder how THAT happened. Go in, capture the nukenin ( missing nin ), get out. Theoretically simple, though I had a bad feeling about the place, a REALLY bad feeling. Anko picked up on it too, what with her Jedi training, she hadn't gotten over her past with Orochimaru quite yet, but she was getting there, the curse mark was always a grim reminder of it. What's even funnier is that she had changed her clothes to match my own when on missions, except hers kept the mask. And her casual clothes were also Jedi robes, but not the standard ones by any stretch of the imagination. She wore dark purple boots, with slightly lighter purple leggings, over which was a kimono type of outfit in which the lapels didn't overlap, they just met in the middle and went down to mid thigh, and a leather belt that went from just under her breasts to her belly button, basically highlighting her 'assets' and showing a good amount of cleavage, this was also a pale light purple. Over these she had half of a cloak, that went to just above her knees and whose sleeves were also quite wide, that went down to the same length, the material was so light that when her hood was down you couldn't actually tell it apart from the rest of the cloak, this was a darker purple, over-all it looked very fitting for her and screamed shinobi and Jedi at the same time, it also garnered quite a few head turns when she walked down the street, but she was enjoying it. ( Author's Note: Google Female Jedi Knight and just look at the first image, but in purple. Not very original, but it's perfect. )

We finally arrived outside the classical Japanese castle and we had already gotten a plan down, because we were a squad of six and there were five of the missing nin, we could safely subdue them if we moved quickly, at least in theory, so we stealthily made our way to where the hostages were being held and lo' and behold, all the missing nin were enjoying a feast of sorts, Mongoose gave the signal and all of us disappeared.

Mongoose did a quick Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu ( Earth Style: Inner Decapitation ) and he emerged from the ground and pulled one of the enemies under the ground, Anko moved quickly and bit one with her snakes, paralysing him almost instantly, I created a Shadow Clone and he did a quick, three seal Suirō no Jutsu ( Water Prison ), leaving my hands free for other opponents, unfortunately for the other two ANBU, they failed, miserably. We had no idea who the leader was because of incomplete intelligence gathering, apparently one of the ANBU tried restraining the leader in ninja wires with a jutsu inspired by Suna puppetry, what happened was a seal-less kawarimi that restrained the ANBU himself, for short enough for the enemy to execute him instantly by drawing his katana and slicing his head, he quickly threw a couple of kunai at my clone but it already had a sword out and deflected them, as for the other missing nin, he single-handedly took our two ANBU by transforming parts of his body in rock and literally smashing the two guys into the ground, what was left of them was mere flesh and bone in a mixture of fine dust and gore. The two remaining missing nin acted quickly and were now forcing Mongoose back, allowing ample time for the Thing as I was now calling the Iwa nin to free his buried ally. Anko was already casting seals for a mud slide and called it Doton: Dosekiryū, I saw what she was doing and was now casting seals of my own Suiton: Goshokuzame ( Water: Five Feeding Sharks ) I used the water in her mud slide to seriously pump up the power in the sharks and they were now attacking the missing nin mercilessly. In a feat of immense skill, the leader cast a long range earth jutsu that buried into the ground near him and appeared right underneath Anko's legs, grabbing them and solidifying on contact, to a dark brown concrete. I didn't like this, at all. The released grass nuke-nin was using some kind of Kekkei Genkai which allowed him to spit acid like Tsunade's slugs and was melting through Mongoose's kunai at a fast pace, I was trying to keep my focus on the sharks but the enemy nin were barely even bothered by them. I nodded to my clone who nodded back and did a seal-less variation on Chidori, the Chidori Stream, around his body, shocking the missing nin inside the water prison into unconsciousness. I lunged at the rock covered nin and started matching him blow for blow, I knew lightning was strong enough to pass through his armour but I needed an opportunity and I was slowly creating one, I had already summoned 4 pumped up clones and they were probing for weaknesses, once they had found it, one of us did a four seal Chidori and plunged it into the man's shoulder, enough to render him unable to fight but not lethal. A quick prisoner scroll later and he was down for the count. I took a look around the battlefield and Anko was getting overpowered by the leader's attacks, and she was still stuck in the same spot because of that concrete-type prison, while Mongoose was simply getting acid burns all over his limbs. I was silently cursing this mission, it didn't look good. I jumped in the fight and started duelling the acid freak, deflecting his acid by pumping water chakra in my sword, creating a thin layer of water around it. Shien was perfect for his projectiles, very close to blaster bolts and I had no trouble deflecting. The guy noticed it and he broke the ice with the very first word of the fight.

"I see you're quite good at thinking on the fly minion, Konoha ANBU standards are really dropping if they accept Academy children in the corps, but how are you at defending your fellow ANBU?" he said with a cackle and started throwing split acid splashes towards... Anko and Mongoose? I made a seal-less Shadow Clone and it jumped in front of Mongoose deflecting the strikes and I did the same for Anko.

"How's it going, Hebi-chan? Need any help or have you got this?"

"You kidding me? He's been overpowering me this whole fight and I don't have much chakra left... and my feet are stuck, gah!" she screamed a grunt as she deflected another boulder from the leader.

"I'm sort of occupied dealing with Mr. Puke over here, and I can't do more pumped up clones to take care of him, my chakra is already spreading thin from all the seal-less jutsu. Think you can take care of him for a few minutes?"

"I'll try, brat. Go and take care of 'Deep Clean'." she said with a chuckle.

I jumped towards the Kusa nin and started flourishing my blade in front of me, deflecting against the initial projectiles and the splashes that were now dangerous in close quarters. I was mere metres away now and I did an Ataru Force-enhanced lunge stabbing at the enemy's right shoulder, my strike hit home and I slashed upwards, severing his bones and tendons, making his right arm incredibly difficult to use. He screamed in pain and had a look of intense hatred on his face.

"If I die here... I'll take you with me!" he hissed through closed teeth and I could see the evil glint in his eyes, he did a seal of confrontation and muttered a quick 'Katsu'. Anything else was now happening in slow motion, I already had a vague idea of what was going to happen – the nuke-nin's body exploded in a sea of green, a suicide jutsu, then... and my vision immediately moved to Anko. She was still fighting the leader and they apparently hadn't noticed the explosion. Mongoose had already erected an earth wall and was safely behind it, but Anko was literally stuck to the ground, my decision was instant. I used my fastest and most chakra intensive seal-less Shunshin ( Body Flicker ), the Raiton Shunshin and I appeared in front of a wide-eyed Anko, she apparently noticed the blast behind me. I threw my arms around her and tackled her to the ground covering her body with my own and absorbing the full brunt of the impact. It was painful, so painful. I could feel the flesh on my back burning, I was in a flame-less fire. My head was completely protected because the mask extended all the way, but my back and the back of my legs was completely exposed, I would be lucky if flesh remained. I screamed in pain, reminiscent of Anakin's painful wails when he was being burned by the molten lava. It certainly felt that way, I could feel my vision blurring, darkening and through all this, I had a smile on my face. Anko was safe.


	6. Chapter 6 The Many Forms of Lethal

I felt like I had been hit by a truck, drenched in gasoline and lit up like a Christmas tree. I was also lying on my back, it felt like a bed of nails. I struggled to get my eyes open but my eyelids were sticking together. One final push and a wave of blinding white compelled me to close my eyes again, but I didn't. Anko, in her regular outfit, was draped over my left arm and shoulder, sleeping peacefully but a worried expression still marred her features, on my right shoulder was a similarly sleeping Naruto. On a chair, right across from the bed, was the Third, with a content smile on his face.

"I see you've finally woken up. You've had all of us worried." he said with warm eyes.

I tried to speak but the dryness of my mouth and throat made it basically impossible, I struggled to sign for some water and the Third walked up to me and handed me a glass, I sipped some water with the help of the old man, my hands still trapped by the sleeping bodies next to me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." I said in a groggy voice.

"No, no, it's completely fine."

"What happened?" the Third's eyebrows scrunched up and his eyes narrowed slightly, he held the expression for a moment before relaxing and sighing.

"The mission was a success... albeit with consequences. The Daimyo and the other clients are safe. Sadly, we lost three experienced ANBU and if it wasn't for you, possibly more. The two prisoners you sealed are having a talk with Ibiki at the moment... the suicide jutsu however, killed the leader as well as the Kusa nuke-nin that you were fighting and the one paralysed by Anko's snakes."

"I see..." I stated with a sad expression, loss of life, even if it was an enemy, was never a good thing "How long have I been out?"

"The trip back, which was just over a day and two days in the hospital. A normal shinobi wouldn't have survived this ordeal, even with your... tenant... I don't understand how you managed to get through this with no permanent damage..." the Third said with a thoughtful expression.

"I managed to push a lot of chakra into my body to brace it for the impact. I guess it worked..." I said, not entirely truthful, but I couldn't exactly tell him I went in a kind of sleeping hibernation named 'Curato' that protected my vitals until help could arrive...

"I sense that there is something you are not telling me... but it is not important. What is, is that you are back and you are expected to recover fully by the end of this month. I will be taking you out of duty until you enter the Academy. Do not think of this as punishment... the doctors said that your pain levels were so intense that it's a wonder your synapses haven't stopped to protect your brain... It's good to see that you're fine. Well... sadly... I have..." he paused for a moment and then I could see the hatred burning in his eyes "paperwork to do." he left the room with a few curses under his breath, I just chuckled and in the process, woke up Anko, she blinked a few times and then hugged me.

"Thank you." she whispered through a set of sniffles.

"Your my sensei and my Padawan, do you honestly think I would let you die that easily? I still have much to learn from you and you from me." I said with a smirk and she raised her head up, her face now in a shit eating grin, I recognized the look, she knew something that I didn't.

"What is it this time?" I said and sighed, her grin only grew wider.

"You've passed the first three trials. Congratulations!" she said and hugged me tighter. She was of course referring to the four trials required to graduate to a Jedi Knight.

"Well... I get the Trial of the Skill and the Trial of Flesh... I did defeat my opponents and I was in a lot of pain, but what about the Trial of Courage?" I asked, confused because I didn't show that much courage in the fight at all.

"That's easy! Your superiors, one of which is your sensei, were losing their fights and you didn't hesitate to jump in to help... I'm surprised you didn't think of that." she said, now as confused as I was.

"He he... I didn't really think about any of it during the fight to be honest, I just knew that I had to protect you guys so I... jumped in, kind of pathetic now that I think about it..."

"You talk too much." she dead panned and poked me in the forehead.

"Hey! That's not nice." I said in mock protest and she just ruffled my hair. I turned my head to where Naruto was and found him sitting up and watching the exchange with a foxy grin, he pointed his finger towards and Anko.

"I didn't know the snake lady had a soft side! Nii-chan, why didn't you tell me her insides were made of marshmallows and rainbows?" Anko growled sinisterly and turned an angry look towards my brother.

"Oh Naru-kun, stay there and I'll show you just how soft I can be." she said in a sweet voice that didn't match Anko's look or the way in which she was cracking her fists. One small 'yelp' later, Naruto was out the window with an angry snake summoner on his tail. I chuckled at their antics, it was good to be back.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"I'm nervous, what if they don't like us? What if the teachers don't like us? What if we're really bad at being shinobi and we won't graduate?" my brother was reminding me of Omoi when he's exercising Murphy's Law.

"Settle down, Naru-kun. I'm sure it will be fine." I said precisely when we arrived at the Academy gates.

"Nii-chan, tell me again why we arrived just two minutes earlier than last call?" Naruto asked, I just chuckled and decided on a quick Gandalf quote.

"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." I said sagely, oh the things I could do if I had a pipe.

"We're not wizards! What the heck is a wizard anyway?" Naruto huffed.

"That's a question for another time, my young Padawan. We don't have much time left, we should head inside." I said and in my mind I could see myself rubbing my hands together and cackling maniacally. Naruto just pouted and muttered a small 'fine...'.

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Once inside, I could see a myriad of familiar faces – Sakura was arguing heatedly with Ino, Shikamaru was sleeping, Chouji was stuffing his face, Hinata was somewhere in the back sitting quietly, Kiba was trying to talk to a disinterested Shino and then there was Sasuke. Brooding, I expected that, it had been just over an year since he lost his whole family and he didn't exactly know why. I wanted to change the way he thinks but I was not the right person for the job – no, that was Naruto and he was the only one capable of that.

We took seats towards the front of the class, I realised that a shinobi should always protect his back and all, but we were among allies and showing them your back actually bred trust. Just as we settled in our new desks, a chipper Iruka walked in.

"Good morning, class. My name is Umino Iruka and I will be your new Sensei. How about some introductions, you two in the front." he said while pointing at us. I stood up and dredged my voice.

"My name is Uzumaki Menma." I said and motioned for Naruto to continue.

"And I'm his twin, Uzumaki Naruto." he said with a grin, Iruka returned it.

"Could you tell us some of your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future?"

"Yeah, sure, I like ramen and dislike people that don't respect their peers. My hobbies are training and gardening. My dream for the future is to become the best Hokage." he said with a thumbs up and a grin.

"I like reading, writing and peaceful scenery. I dislike people that prey on the weak. My hobbies are training and meditation. My dream for the future is" 'to establish a new Jedi Order...' "to change the current shinobi world and its ideals." I said in a softer voice and shouts of 'Yeah right!' and 'Boring.' could be heard from behind me, I didn't really mind.

"Quite the achievers, eh? Well... I'm happy to say that with my knowledge and training you two will be closer to your goals!" Iruka said with a smile and a thumbs up that reminded me a lot of Naruto's own. He motioned for us to sit down.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

It was now lunch time and Naruto and I were eating our home-made bento. We each made our own because self-sustenance was of great importance to a Jedi. Because of our training and balanced diets, we were now much taller than our peers, around a head or so taller, the only one that was close to us in height was Shikamaru. I guess that canon Naruto eating only ramen didn't help him at all. Minato was one of the tallest shinobi in the village and we had Uzumaki genes on top of that, there was no real reason for him to be the shortest person in his generation.

Talking about the devil, Shikamaru closed in on our table and sat down, followed by Chouji and Kiba.

"Can we sit here? All the other tables are occupied by troublesome people. I'm Shikamaru, these are Chouji and Kiba."

"Mh..Hello..mhmhm" Chouji's muffled voice through his chips.

"Yo!" and Kiba, waving his hand in salute;

"Of course you may sit here. I would like for us to be friends." I said while nodding towards both Chouji and Kiba in sequence, the former just smiled and offered us chips and the latter threw us a feral grin. Naruto and Kiba hit it off right away and were now happily chatting about how they each like to train and how strong they want to become and I was chatting with Shikamaru about books and promising a Shougi match sometime, in my previous life, I was a decent chess player and I was ranked in the 1700s by FIDE ratings.

"Have you ever heard of chess, Shikamaru?" I asked, genuinely curious if the game even existed here.

"Isn't that the western board game that looks a lot like Shougi but 8x8 and different starting positions?"

"That is correct, I am quite good at that game and we can play that if you want, I figure it'd be good practice in tactics." I said and he smiled back and nodded approvingly.

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Shikaku and Chouji were staring wide eyed at us, chins almost touching the ground.

"Even I didn't think about that move..." Shikamaru's father muttered under his breath and Chouji was muttering 'Shika... lost?'

Shikamaru was rubbing his chin thoughtfully and merely extended his right arm for a handshake.

"Good game. You said you were good at chess but I wasn't entirely truthful to you, I played this game a lot with my dad when Shougi became too troublesome. Although you're still a long ways to go at beating me at Shougi, you're really good at chess!" he said with a rare smile, I nodded and shook his hand.

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We were nearing the end of our Academy years and Naruto, Sasuke and I were currently battling it out for the first place. Naruto was slightly behind in the theoretical part but he had amazing stamina and physical shape, we also were limited in that we couldn't reveal jutsus and anything about the Force, so we couldn't show our true potential. I generally held first place, but Sasuke had become really competitive and he considered me and Naruto his rivals already and he was training a whole lot to match us. I had been using all the time that Naruto spent studying by studying as well - Fūinjutsu to be exact. I was already at intermediate level and I had a really easy time grasping most of the concepts, this was the level at which you were supposed to travel the world and discover new seals but I was inventing my own, even though it was really dangerous, I always tested them with Shadow Clones first. I was working on Cursed Seals and counter-seals specifically. I already had something prepared, but it wouldn't be easy.

"You summoned me, Master?" Anko asked in a way that didn't suit her at all, but we had already established our personae during training.

"Indeed I have. I believe you are ready to face your Trial of the Spirit." in order for the seal to work, she had to have faced her inner fears and defeat them.

"I understand. Even though it is a difficult step and dangerous, I don't want to cling to the past anymore... I will go prepare the pond for meditation." she left and went to set up the incense sticks and other materials. At this point she would have to enter a deep meditation and face her fears, if she succeeded, then she would be ready for my counter-seal, otherwise... she could die, or her mind be forever broken. It was of no use to think of such outcomes and I had complete faith in Anko, she had come a long way from the scared teenager she was when we had started her training. People were now really wondering about us three, we wore strange clothing, we had suspicious braids that started just underneath the right ear. Mine was red and looked rather strange and Anko's fit her really well for some reason, she also didn't have to grow hers since she already had lots of hair to work with. People were starting to think we were some sort of Mafiya or Yakuza or something with our Padawan braids and Jedi apparel. Even the Third had to call me aside and have a talk with me about it but I assured him it was nothing of the sort.

"I am ready, Master." Anko said and bowed slightly, we made our way to the pond and she sat in a Lotus position. After about twenty minutes of meditation, she began levitating slightly above the ground, which often happened when communing with the Force. This was a very personal experience and I could have no idea what she was going through and could not help her in any way. It was her war to fight.

Anko's expression changed multiple times throughout the ordeal and sweat now marred her features, her face's colour also changed from dark crimson to pale white. After about six hours, she gasped for breath and she fell towards the ground, I caught her smoothly on her way down and checked her pulse, slightly elevated but okay. Her eyes were focused so it was conceivable that she was not mentally broken. She took a few more laboured breaths and then her expression turned to one of sadness.

"It was... terrifying... I fought myself, but not really myself. She was so evil and dark... and so like that snake bastard... but every word she said... I knew deep inside it was true. At first I was so angry and I wanted to eliminate her, to reject her... I realised she was part of me and that I had to accept her, even if it saddens me." she said, now slightly calmer and more composed, I put her down and reached for her left shoulder with my right hand, I rested it gently on her and looked straight into her light brown eyes.

"You did well, Anko. I have a gift for you, now that you have succeeded in this trial. I have prepared a bed inside, you will have to lay down for this." she looked afraid for a second but then nodded and headed inside.

"What's this about?" she asked, now the fear in her voice returning.

"Turn over, so that your back is towards me, this will hurt, a lot, but it will be worth it. Okay?" she turned her eyes towards me and nodded.

"I trust you with my life." she said and did as she was told.

"I'll need some of your blood, so I will cut into the tip of your finger, don't be alarmed." I said and grabbed her finger and cut it lightly on the tip and collected the blood in my ink bottle, I mixed it up and did the same with my finger. The seal I had developed was loosely based on the Fūja Hōin ( Evil Sealing Method ) originally placed on Sasuke, but took into account his battle with Itachi and how he sealed it.

"Now I will release a part of your seal, prior to your Trial of the Spirit, at this point you would be corrupted by the fragment of Orochimaru's soul that is already embedded into this seal. I will merely release that and seal it and then destroy it, as I mentioned before, you will have to withstand a high amount of pain." she nodded slightly and I started drawing the necessary circular seals around the Curse Seal of Heaven. After finishing, I started doing my handseals, around thirty or so, and then placed my right hand on Anko's neck and my left hand formed a seal of release and screamed 'Kai!' while shooting a great amount of chakra into my hand, Anko screamed in pain and I started pulling my hand away and with it, a white slightly translucent snake. I moved quickly and placed it on a seal prepared in advance on a scroll and muttered 'Fūin', the snake sealed once again.

"Now I will have to move quick and remove that seal. This step will be less painful but it will take longer, your seal may be released to a level II." I said and Anko nodded one again, this time covered in the black tomoe of the cursed seal and sweating, all her muscles contracted in pain.

I began another seal on her and she screamed once again, I was now doing my handseals, around one hundred this time, as fast as I could to minimise the exposure to the seal, her skin now turned a purple colour, a bit lighter than her hair and her hair was getting longer and spikier, her shoulder bones were now trying to pierce the skin of her back and were protruding rather strangely through her clothes.

I finished the last seal and screamed 'Fūin' once again, the bones in her back receded, her skin turned normal, her hair shortened and softened and the tomoe flew into the Cursed Seal, then it turned blue and it dissipated into a disgusting black slime, I had already prepared towels and wiped it off, Anko was now sweating and gasping for air.

"Is it over?" she said and then suddenly relaxed, now snoring quietly and obviously deep asleep, two life-changing experiences in a single day... Master Yoda would be proud. I tucked her in and put the sealing equipment away. I muttered a quick 'Good Night' and went to tell Naruto how it went, he was ecstatic to know about it but made him promise to not interfere, I couldn't handle any distractions.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

The following morning I woke to the smell of a deliciously smelling dough being cooked in one way or another in the kitchen. I flew with the smell, basically floating above the floor and skipped and jumped my way towards the kitchen, eyes still closed.

"Hmmm... what smells so good, Naru-kun?" I asked, my eyes still closed in bliss.

"Dango." wait. That's not Naruto's voice. That's Anko. What's – I'm an idiot. I opened my eyes and looked from the floor up, what I saw took my breath away and was forever ingrained into my memory. Long, perfectly toned, bare legs that led into a beautiful waist covered in cotton, pale red panties on which the words 'Hebi-hime' were written in a flowing font, I looked further upwards and I could see a toned abdomen and a delicious looking belly-button and just above it – one of my T-shirts. A white one that had the Namikaze symbol on its front and that was much too tight for Anko's bosom, the slight V in the collar revealing way too much for my now pubescent mind and the hormones associated. I could already feel my face burning and the shit-eating grin spreading across it.

"Like what you see, Master? Would you like to train me, one-on-one?" she said in a sultry tone and I couldn't find any coherent thoughts – Anko – cleavage – toned abdomen – perfect waist – supple legs... Okay, I've seen these things before, I just have to calm down... breathe...

"Hey! Don't you try to meditate in front of me, am I really that unattractive?!" Anko said angrily.

"Quite the opposite, Anko-chan, I am simply afraid I wouldn't be able to restrain myself if I am... exposed to you any longer. Or should I say... you exposed to me?" I pointed towards her chest and she looked down and had the courtesy to look sheepish.

"It's not like that... I'm just more comfortable like this and I didn't have any of my shirts, so I borrowed one of yours... Here, have some dango, that will cheer you up!" she grinned and put a plate of dango in my hands, I just shook my head while looking at it and smiled.

"I'm not mad at you, Anko-chan, it's just that... never mind." I couldn't exactly tell her that I, a twelve year old, was physically and emotionally attracted to her. Not yet, at least. People always think that Jedi are these monks, and in a way it's true, but in earlier years of the Jedi Order and especially after Luke became Grand Master, relationships were not avoided as much, the man himself was married and had a kid. Luke even made some notes that the lethality of Form V of lightsaber combat is balanced by using the Force in compassionate ways and that compassion is a source of strength when it comes to the Light Side of the Force. Granted, "There is no emotion, there is peace." is often interpreted literally, but it refers to mostly Dark emotion, like hatred, fear and anger, if you are at peace with yourself and your Light emotions, things weren't so black and white, so literal.

"This isn't about the fact that you're not going to be my apprentice any more, is it?" Anko asked, eyebrows tilted like a puppy dog's and expression worried.

"No, nothing like that. We're still friends and we're still going to train together, both as shinobi and as Jedi. It's... something personal." I said, trying to dismiss the issue.

"It's related to me, isn't it?" she asked and walked towards me.

"Yeah. Although I'm not ready to tell you what it is just yet." I smiled at her, our height was now almost the same, she only had about 5 centimetres over me ( about two inches ). She nodded in understanding and we returned to eating our dango, joking and smiling all the same, soon enough, Naruto was down as well and hungrily ate most of the remaining dango, leaving behind a pouting and slightly annoyed Anko.

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I was now waiting at Training Ground 3, the place where I was supposed to meet none other than Kakashi. Arguably, the coolest Jounin in the entire series. I had brought a blank book and I was rewriting The Lord of the Rings, as accurately as I could. I wouldn't publish it under my own name, of course, but it's THE milestone in the high fantasy genre. I couldn't NOT write it when I had read it so many times. I had already written The Hobbit, the Chronicles of Narnia, some Isaac Asimov works and a few others.

"Yo!" Kakashi's voice broke the sound of quill scribbling on paper and I looked up, waited for a second in order for the ink to dry, sealed up my writing utensils and the book and smiled.

"What's up, Inu-san?" I had already met Kakashi on several occasions, either at drop points or in passing while on my ANBU missions, I didn't know if he knew who I really was but I wouldn't really think something like that would get by Kakashi.

"Aegis-kun... that explains a lot, actually. I wasn't entirely sure since those robes you wear really conceal your scent, must be the seals on the material... Anyway, I'm told you are to be my new apprentice, so how about we get to know each other." he said with an eye smile.

"Yeah, sure. My name is Menma Uzumaki, but you already know that, I like reading, training and teaching students, I dislike adversity and aggression. My hobbies are meditating, writing fiction and... studying my spiritual self, if you will. My dream is to change the shinobi world." I grinned at him, I couldn't really be completely honest with the man, even if I trusted him a whole lot, he didn't know me all too well and didn't trust me, yet, either.

"I am Hatake Kakashi. I have no intentions of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dream... I have few hobbies." he said in a deadpan voice and I merely shrugged, he'll get there eventually.

"So... I would think you won't send me on D-ranks, since you know my real identity and I wouldn't think you'd trust me to go on a squad with you, so what are we doing, exactly?" I asked, eager to see what the man would teach me.

"Well... I was thinking of maybe teaching you some tracking and maybe some useful jutsu, what are your affinities?"

"I'm a Lightning and Water user, I've mastered water almost completely, but I still have some ways to go with my lightning jutsu, Anko said that I may have a Ranton ( Storm ) kekkei genkai, but we'll only find out if I master lightning, I know a few decent other jutsu, since I've also developed a minor affinity for Wind, but my Fire is extremely weak, I can't cast a single Fire jutsu." I explained and he was nodding all the way.

"Okay, what's the most advanced Lightning jutsu you know? Just so I can get an idea..." he asked and I was now a little pale and was laughing awkwardly. How will I explain that I know his Chidori... oh, I have an idea!

"Well... it's the Chidori." his single exposed eye widened a bit in surprise but relaxed right away.

"How?" he said in a flat tone.

"Well... I studied my father's scrolls and I was trying to develop the second stage of the Rasengan, and I tried combining it with my Lightning affinity... When I used it in combat, Anko told me that you had already invented the jutsu and you called it the Chidori." I explained and he seemed to believe my story, it was exactly the way he discovered Chidori.

"Although... I prefer not to use it too much, it takes a whole lot of precision to disable someone without killing him with a Chidori, though it is possible." I said and he seemed thoughtful for a moment then nodded to himself.

"This is not widely known, but I have developed the Chidori further and created a variation that is more powerful but also more concentrated, more precise. It is at the same time more and less lethal than the Chidori." The Raikiri ( Lightning Cutter ), the epitome of Lightning manipulation, even better than Force Lightning, which was devastating in its own right.

"It would be an honour to carry the responsibility of handling such knowledge, Sensei." I bowed in respect, this was the Kakashi I had admired in the series.

"Okay then, if you master it until the Genin test I will be giving to your brother and his team mates, I will have a surprise waiting for you." he eye smiled and began teaching me the theory behind his signature jutsu.


	7. Chapter 7 Gamble

Author's Note: If you haven't watched the Clone Wars ( 2008 ) TV series, I highly recommend doing so or at least read the story for Ahsoka Tano – and watch the final few episodes of season 5, it certainly gives much better depth to the prequels as a whole and to Anakin's decision to join the Dark Side as well. Not that I agree with him... it's just great story and great fiction.

"I see you haven't gotten it down just yet. Don't be disappointed, though, it took me a few months to do a proper Raikiri." I had been training the whole week, with just a few Shadow Clones, the chakra requirements were really intense. I was trying but my control was always just a little off, never quite there.

"Just keep trying, it'll come to you." Kakashi said and I remembered something. I was having no more of this.

"Do or do not, there is no try." I exclaimed and finished the last hand seal. Lightning chakra built up around my hand and circled my position on the ground, the sound of a thousand chirping birds filled the air. I ran to the first rock and slammed my hand across it, not touching it, but not very far either.

"Raikiri! ( Lightning Cutter/Blade )" nothing seemed to happen but both Kakashi and I knew that wasn't the case, he was now in front of me and giving me his signature eye smile. He touched the rock gently and the top third slip perfectly from the base, embedding itself into the soft ground, a perfect cut now marring both of the pieces.

"That's quite the efficient mantra. I'm very impressed, my cute little student. I didn't think you'd be able to make it, but I keep my promises." he ruffled my hair and then reached into his pouch and took out a small scroll, he unravelled it and with a small 'Kai!' it puffed into a scroll five times as large.

"No way! You're letting me sign the Hatake contract?" I asked, breath hitched. Kakashi hadn't chosen a proper successor in canon, his Hatake ninken would have been orphaned if he had died.

He nodded once and pointed towards a blank space next to his own name, I cut my finger on a kunai and signed my name and then placed a hand print on the scroll, he sealed it back up and motioned me to sit down.

"Now I want you to be very careful with the ninken. As one of their summoners, you have to treat them as your family now and their life is in your hands." I nodded solemnly and he seemed happy with his decision "now why don't you give it a try? Pump as much chakra as you can for the first time."

I did as I was told and did the handseals slowly, to have time to channel the chakra needed, I slammed my hand into the ground and shouted "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" ( Summoning Jutsu ). An impressive amount of smoke later and what stood in front of me was a ninken that I didn't recognize from Canon, and I knew all their names for god's sake. It was a slightly larger than normal Tibetan Mastiff, and they were pretty large already. He had red to dark orange fur and looked similar to a lion with lots of fur.

"Who summons me, hmm?" he said in a gruff, aged voice. I turned my head towards Kakashi in question and his single eye was wide open in surprise.

"I summoned you, Inu-san ( Dog ). Forgive me, but I am not familiar with your name." I bowed to the large dog and he lowered his head in a bow at the same time.

"That's Hachikou-sama... Only my father could summon him... he's the Alpha of all the ninken tribes, including the Inuzuka." Kakashi said in awe, now that's an expression you don't get to see on Kakashi's face too often!

"It is an honour to be your summoner, Hachikou-sama." I bowed again and he threw me a dog smile, if that's even possible.

"Enough with the formalities, pup. Just call me Hachikou. What's your name, little one?" he asked and was now sitting comfortably on the ground.

"Menma Uzumaki, heir to both the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans." I said with a smile, Kakashi just gasped behind me, I hadn't told him I knew of my heritage.

"Ah, so you're the son of Kakashi-kun's Sensei, the pups tell me all about Kakashi-kun and his adventures!" he chuckled, it sounded more like a kind grandfather than anything.

"It's good to be out and about after all these years, I was beginning to think that nobody ever wanted me anymore" he pouted "Although you're going to be summoning me a lot, aren't you Menma-kun?" he said with puppy dog eyes, I was melting inside.

"Of course, Hachikou. We're family now, right?" I said and buried my hands in the dense fur around his neck, which was incredibly soft and fluffy, he leaned into my touch and gently wagged his tail.

"Oh, that's the spot." he said while kicking with his right hind leg, he coughed once and regained his composure, now on all fours.

"As much as I want to stay around here and be petted, I'm a century too old for that. I'm draining your chakra constantly while I am out and you will be getting close to exhaustion. I'll alert the others that we have a new summoner. I wish you a peaceful life, Menma-kun, Kakashi-kun." he bowed respectfully to each of us while saying our names and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kakashi put his hand on my head and had a fond expression on his face.

"I never thought I'd meet Hachikou-sama again after my father died. Thank you for that, Menma-kun." he said and was now ruffling his hair, I just smiled at the grateful gesture.

"I'll be giving the Genin test tomorrow, you're dismissed for the day, don't give any of them any tips about it, I trust you. I can't exactly fail them because the council gave me express orders to pass the Uchiha..." Kakashi said in an angry tone, Sasuke being pampered by the village wasn't the ideal view on the education of his best friend's last clansman.

"You'd be surprised, I don't think the council's ultimatum would make any difference, Kakashi-sensei. Have some faith in the younger generation." I said and bumped his shoulder playfully with my fist, at this he turned a slightly uncomfortable gaze on me. Okay, note to self, don't act buddy-buddy with Kakashi.

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"I wonder how our team will be like... and what the test will be about." Naruto was pondering his future as a team.

"Don't worry, just remember what I've taught you and you'll be fine." I said reassuringly an he nodded.

"I'm really happy about the choices in the team, I mean, Sasuke is an arrogant bastard but he's an orphan like us and he's seriously strong, it's a shame he's the avenger type... you should take him as an initiate, I bet learning how to be a Jedi will be good for him." what Naruto said really threw me for a loop. I hadn't thought about it, because I knew what Sasuke would become in Canon and, at the same time, I knew he'd turn out to be a good guy in the end... He just doesn't know the whole story yet... He could turn out like another Anakin, be that good or bad I don't know... or better... possibly worse.

"Meditate on that, I will." I said in my 'Master' voice and ended this current debate."

"And then there's Sakura! She's really pretty... her hair reminds me of the cherry trees outside, in the forest. And she's nice to me too! Except for when I ask her out on dates... she hits me those times... but I tried talking to her without mentioning that word and she's really nice!" Naruto said happily, it seemed that Canon Naruto was too obnoxious for Sakura but my brother was getting along with her.

"Just remember, Naruto-kun, it's her decision whether or not she will continue to pursue Sasuke or choose to establish a relationship with you, respect her decision, okay?"

"Nii-chan, if she is happy then that is enough for me!" he said with his trademark grin and a thumbs up, his heart was in the right place.

"If you pass the exam, there will be something waiting for you at Masamune-san's shop. It's about time you meet him and I figured you'd want to be there for the final touch-ups. There is also a package for Anko-chan, bring that with you as well." I said, I had already had a talk with Masamune-san and we figured out the right options for them both.

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They had passed the test with flying colours, I had stationed a Shadow Clone to watch their progress and surprisingly, things went better than canon, Naruto was more composed, less reckless and thankfully didn't get hit by the Thousand Years of Death and Sasuke wasn't as reluctant to work as a team. They didn't get the bells, of course, but they touched them on several occasions and they DID share the food, Kakashi was so impressed that he took them on their first D-rank right away, saying that the sooner they could get the minimum number of them, the sooner they could go on their first C-rank. When they returned at TG3, I was already waiting for them, gently caressing the surface of the Memorial Stone, where Minato and Kushina were inscribed.

I sense them coming from a mile away and was now smiling in their direction. Kakashi gave me a quick 'Yo!' and Naruto was grinning widely at me.

"Congratulations on becoming Genin! A little bird tells me you passed the test with flying colours." I smirked and the reactions varied. Naruto nodded determinedly, Sakura gave a formal 'Thank you.' and bowed but was trying to hide a smirk and Sasuke merely raised his chin and gave a 'Hn' like there was no way the last Uchiha could fail.

"Where were you, anyway? Chickened out?" Sasuke asked with a smirk and I just shrugged, Kakashi intervened with an exasperated sigh.

"Menma-kun over there is my personal apprentice. I know that he is qualified to be a Genin, he will also only be joining us on C-ranked or higher missions, he will be training and doing simple solo-missions in the meantime." explaining to them how I was actually an undercover ANBU and how regular ranks didn't apply to me would anger Sasuke enough to probably complain to the Council, and there was no reason for them to know I was an ANBU, either.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was seething, his teeth and fists were clenched and he was burning with fury.

"Why does he get to be your apprentice?" he asked in a growl.

"My, my, there's no need to get angry, my cute little Genin. It is simply because he has shown a natural aptitude towards the skills that I also have, he was also the odd man out when the teams were formed." Kakashi eye smiled and Sasuke seemed to calm down a bit, at least content with the answer. Naruto, though, was grinning with pride because he knew I was actually an ANBU and he didn't mind at all, he knew I was a better shinobi at the moment, but he also made a promise and he would get better soon.

"I want to fight you, Menma." Sasuke said through clenched teeth and was now preparing a battle stance.

"I don't think that's a good idea, teme." Naruto remarked and tried to put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder to stop him, but he turned a heated look towards my brother and he backed off. Kakashi, on the other hand, seemed intrigued. He knew I wouldn't actually hurt Sasuke and he reasoned he needed to be put in his place at least once in his life, now how to go about it...

Sasuke charged and flew at me with a right hook, way slower than what Anko's looked like, I turned counter-clockwise, now inside his guard, threw my hand around his neck and grabbed his right hand with my left, between my left elbow and ribs, I threw my right leg over his right knee and executed a textbook Harai goshi ( Sweeping Hip Throw ), slamming Sasuke with his back onto the ground, I didn't put much force behind the throw, merely used Sasuke's own momentum against him. He grunted in pain and I extended a hand to raise him to his feet, he took it grudgingly.

"You can come train with us, if you want to, of course." I offered, since he actually accepted the helping hand. His eyes widened for a second and the narrowed with suspicion, eyeing me over, looking for any hidden intent. I smiled warmly and exuded a calming aura via the Force, he simply nodded once, albeit a bit slowly.

"Now that that's settled, how about some teamwork exercises?" Kakashi said while rubbing his hands together, this was going to be a long day.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

Naruto had gone to Masamune's shop to receive his graduation gift and I was meditating, I could now lift three Muntuur stones during meditation, and those weighed several tonnes. Master Yoda was said to be able to lift five of them and Master Fae Coven, the author of the Jedi Path, could life six. For regular Jedi, even lifting one was an impressive feat in itself. I was finishing up with my meditation and I lowered the stones slowly, when I opened my eyes, they were met with the sight of a grinning Naruto and a similarly looking Anko, both holding their new weapons.

Naruto was holding a sword not unlike mine but with a curve in the hilt, at the pommel, perfect for use of Form II: Makashi. Anko, on the other hand, now held a weapon radically different to our own, it was inspired by a Saberstaff, it had a long hilt, rectangular in shape and weighted down to create the peculiar balance of the weapon, it had two blades, one on top of the hilt and another at the bottom, one facing forward and another one backwards. Anko was extremely flexible and adopted a rather fierce, bordering on sadistic combat style. A Saberstaff would be the perfect weapon for her, but extremely difficult to master, that's if a crystal could be found, but I had my hopes. The Zhaboka, as it was called in the Star Wars universe, would be a suitable stepping stone. She was studying Form VII, with its two variants, Juyo and Vaapad, I could provide no instruction to her since I was only mildly familiar with the styles, but they relied on channelling both one's inner darkness and utilising the opponent's aggression against them, notable practitioners included Mace Windu and Satele Shan who also held the title of Grand Master. Many conservative Jedi had expressed their dislike towards the form. Yoda said, when talking about Mace Windu that 'Six there were for generations of Jedi. The seventh, is not well-known. Powerful form it is. Deadliest of all. But dangerous it is, for its master as well as its opponent. Few have studied. One student alone, to mastery has risen.' and Mace Windu himself said that it lead through the penumbra of the dark side, but at the same time he said 'I created Vaapad to answer my weakness: it channels my own darkness into a weapon of the light.' It was my duty as Anko's master to encourage the practice of the form that best suited her.

Anko and Naruto's expressions turned completely serious and then they thanked in unison and bowed deeply.

"You deserve it, my Padawan. Now how-" I was interrupted by a beeping on my belt, I had devised a sort of low-range comlink, similar to a walkie talkie. It wasn't exactly a comlink, but a radio receiver and emitter, although I liked comlink better. I had it connected to both Naruto's and Anko's and also the front gate, since it WAS locked.

"Excuse me for a moment. Who is this?" I asked in the comlink and Sasuke's voice came through the speakers.

"Sasuke Uchiha, and how the heck did you wire a radio in your gate? The batteries shouldn't last this long!" he said exasperatedly, technology DID exist in the Narutoverse, they had TVs and what not, but they all worked on batteries so a device that was on all the time didn't exactly seem plausible.

"Well... it's actually based on seals, whenever someone gets close to the door and it's not myself, Naruto-kun or Anko-chan, it basically feeds on your chakra, it's an infinitely small amount, but if you spend a few days in front of the porch it will drain you... Anyway, come on in." I said, now opening the gate.

"Who's this 'Anko-chan'? Your girlfriend or something?" he asked suspiciously and just then Anko and Naruto came strolling in front of us.

"Why, brat? You jealous?" Anko asked and was now hugging me from behind, pressing herself against my body, chin rested on my left shoulder.

"Enough with the teasing, Anko-chan, he's already embarrassed as it is." she straightened up and now gave me a questioning look.

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything till now..." she said with a pout and her face scrunched up, trying to recall the recent events.

"That's not what I meant. Sasuke-san had to overcome some personal... obstacles in order to accept my offer of training with us." I explained and Anko didn't seem exactly pleased.

"So we're going to be training with him? Why?" she asked disinterestedly.

"Firstly, it is our responsibility to train others, we don't follow the Rule of Two. ( Author's Note: For those of you who don't know, there can be only two actual Sith at a time, ever since Darth Bane. A Master and an Apprentice. Once the apprentice kills off his master, then the line can be renewed. ) Secondly, he's not much different to you when you first started out, Anko-chan, give him a chance. And we're not going to be teaching him THAT just yet, we're going to start out with shinobi training."

"What do you mean by 'THAT'?" Sasuke asked, now extremely confused but mildly interested.

"You'll see... In the meantime, Naruto can teach you some basic chakra control exercises and then you can get started on mastering your Fire affinity." he nodded after a moment of consideration.

"How do you know I have a Fire affinity?"

"You're an Uchiha, even if you didn't have one, the coming of age rite of your clan is the Gōkakyū no Jutsu ( Great Fireball ), is it not? That means that even if you have a different affinity, they drill their mislead ideals into you from a young age, because 'every' Uchiha 'must' have a Fire affinity. You may go your whole life believing that, but you're actually developing a minor affinity in the process, I guess there's a little good in all evil." I said and he was angry for the duration of my statement but seemed to relax when I finished, it seemed that he was beginning to respect his Master, good progress if I may say so.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"I want you to teach me." Sasuke said with a bow.

"I am already teaching you." I said simply.

"No, I mean. Teach me whatever it is you also teach your brother and Anko-san." he clarified.

"And you believe that you are ready? What would you use my teachings for?" I asked, now interested in what he had to say.

"I do not know if I am ready or not... I do not know what I would use them for either. That is why I wish to learn." he said and looked disappointed with myself and his explanation, it was a good answer, though, certainly better than 'To kill a certain someone.'

I reached into a pouch behind my back and brought out a minuscule scroll, I enlarged it in a puff of smoke and looked over it, found what I had been searching for and with a swift drop of blood and a 'Kai!' later, in my hands was now a leather-bound edition of the 'Jedi Path'. I sealed the scroll again and put it back in my pouch.

"You are not to speak to anyone other than myself, Naruto and Anko about the contents of this book and I do mean, NO ONE." I said sternly and he looked almost fearful for a moment before nodding determinedly.

"Read this. Study it. Understand the hidden meaning behind every word and sentence. When you have done so, you will have the answers to those two questions. If they are truthful, to both me and yourself, then I will decide if you are to begin your training." Sasuke seemed to have a battle with himself and then bowed once again, taking the book and bowing a little bit deeper.

"Thank you, for this... for trusting me. I... I thought that I didn't need any help, but that was a mistake, I apologise for my earlier behaviour." he said and a stone seemed to have been lifted off his shoulders, I smiled at him and put my hand on his left shoulder.

"There's good in you, yet, Sasuke. I'll leave you with one final piece of wisdom until you open that book and study its contents, do keep it in mind while you are doing so. Let there be truth between your heart and the Force. All else is transitory."

"What's... the Force?" he said with joined eyebrows and raised shoulders.

"Everything you need to know is contained within those pages." I said conspicuously and Sasuke seemed to take my words for granted, this time. He was coming a long way from what he was in Canon at this particular moment in time. Maybe... just maybe... he would make a good Jedi. It all depended on my guidance, and I just hoped that I had what it takes, that I would not become the next Obi-Wan and he the next Anakin.


	8. Chapter 8 Redemption

Her blade passed harmlessly inches away from my right eyebrow, I examined the patterns across the steel, always noticing a new ridge, line or bump somewhere, I dropped to the ground, batted the sword away with my own and rose to meet her eyes with mine, the moment was short-lived, though, when she raised the other blade in a circular slash, I deftly pierced the continuous circle with my weapon and stopped all movement, she sighed.

"How are you doing this?" she asked.

"Doing what?" I asked innocently.

"No matter how much I train or how much experience I have over you, I can never best you in our damn duels!" she basically spat out.

"You're not feeling." I explained simply.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have an idea... to make you understand." I reached into my all-purpose sealing scroll and released a blindfold, I handed it to Anko and she took it hesitantly.

"Put that on, I'm going to station Shadow Clones around you and throw senbon at you. It's not deadly, but it WILL hurt you. I want you to block them with your zhaboka."

"Block? Does that mean that I am not allowed to dodge?" Anko asked fearfully.

"Indeed."

"But how? I'm not going to be able to see them coming!" she protested.

"That is because you have something even better." she put the tip of her index finger on her chin and looked up at the sky for a moment and then nodded.

"Extend your senses. Let go, let the Force guide your actions." I explained and she nodded. Just then, Sasuke entered the training field and had a look in his eyes that I had never seen before in his black orbs. That wasn't all, though. He now had a rather short Padawan braid sprouting from his dark locks and he now donned a rather standard Jedi attire, but in white and burgundy.

"Do you have your answers?" I asked with a smile and he nodded with a smirk.

"I am ready." he said and bowed. I could feel no deception in his answer and his appearance said a thousand words. Sasuke was not one to enslave himself to the beliefs of others, not even for the cost of power.

"And the second question?" I raised an eyebrow at him but I was extending my senses to feel even the slightest tension in his emotions.

"I know that my... ambition has ruled over my life ever since that day... I wish to change that... to feel again, to be free of these restraints that I have put on myself." he said and bowed his head in shame. He was being honest, at least as far as I could tell.

"Very well. I sense no dishonesty in your words. My only hope is not that you are deceiving me, but that you are deceiving yourself... I will train you."

Sasuke smiled and for me that was a rare sight. He looked more like the young Sasuke that looked up to his big brother at that moment and I could see and sense the good in him, there was still hope.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

We had finally departed for the Land of Waves and everything up until now was going according to plan. The Demon Brothers' 'surprise' was everything but and the trip so far had been uneventful, just like Canon, that was soon going to change.

"Nii-chan, something's not right."

"I sense it too." Sasuke concurred, I nodded to both of them and Kakashi spared a glance at us and nodded too.

"DOWN!" Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto and I shouted at the same time and we dropped to the ground. The sound of air being cut filled our soundscape which was then broken by the loud thud in a nearby tree, all of us turned around and saw a tall, grey skinned man with a bandaged face and a slashed Kirigakure headband that lay across it. Zabuza was positively more intimidating in real life.

"What have we here? Copy-cat Kakashi and a couple of brats. I am only after the bridge-builder, if you go on your own merry way" he stopped for a moment "I will let you leave."

"There's no way we're going to do that!" Naruto hissed at him and I couldn't help but smile proudly.

"Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist..." Kakashi muttered under his breath.

"Ah, so you've heard of me... good... that makes the next part so much easier!" he said and with incredible speed dislodged his Kubikiribocho and swung at the nearest of our group, which was Sakura. Sasuke, calmer than ever, drew a couple of kunai and threw them at Zabuza, then turned around to look into the distance, a small splash of water could be heard from where the clone previously was.

"The real one is over there." he pointed towards the water and Kakashi nodded with a proud eye smile. Zabuza raised his right arm straight up and his left in a half ram seal and muttered 'Kirigakure no Jutsu' ( Hidden in the Mist ), a deep mist clouding over the area.

"Menma, can you do something about this?" Kakashi inquired.

"I could, but it's actually better like this." I smirked and Naruto and Sasuke who were next to me merely nodded and closed their eyes.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked with a critical eye.

"Eight vital points: the larynx, spinal column, lungs, liver, jugular vein, subclavian artery, kidneys, and heart. Which one will it be?" Zabuza's disembodied voice loomed over our ears, including a healthy dose of Killing Intent.

"What... what is that?" Sakura asked fearfully and I could feel all the dread coming from her through the Force. Tazuna and Sakura started shaking uncontrollably and I started a weak version of my Battle Meditation, which boosted the morale, stamina and prowess of those around me and did the opposite to Zabuza. Sakura seemed to be taking deep breaths and Naruto and Sasuke were basking in the warm feeling of my ability.

"That's nice, nii-chan..." Naruto muttered euphorically but was focused entirely on the situation at hand. Kakashi, on the other hand, was shocked and wanted to question me further, but figured this wasn't the time nor place.

"Head's up." I warned but Naruto had already drawn his curve-hilted sword.

"I'm on it." he said and did a Makashi salute. He stepped to his left and deflected a slash aimed at Tazuna and then, with the same fluidity and grace, lightly tapped the figure's throat with his blade, which made it disappear in another splash of water.

"Good work. Sensei, let's capture him, I'll provide support." Kakashi nodded and I got into position and had already started inhaling deeply.

"Suiton: Teppōdama!" ( Water Release: Water Bullet ) I yelled and started shooting small but highly compressed bullets of water at Zabuza, who was engaged in a close quarters battle with Kakashi, now obligated to retreat and try blocking with his Kubikiribocho.

"Sensei! He won't be able to block. Now!" I offered but Kakashi was already on it. My water bullets, because of their tight compression and my extremely strong water affinity, were closer to 'real' life bullets, but also much more resistant and much heavier. All of these combined simply allowed for them to pass through any hardened steel that wasn't chakra conductive, effectively punching holes through Zabuza's sword and impacting his body in different spots, albeit with greatly reduced impact.

Zabuza lost his footing and Kakashi profited with ease, now throwing water jutsu after water jutsu at him, hitting him repeatedly and throwing him into a tree at the other end of the lake.

"Good job, team." Kakashi said with an eye smile. Naruto was now grinning widely and Sasuke and Sakura were sporting a similar proud smile, although that quickly changed in the case of the boys, when senbon flying through the air were heard and then a squishing sound, coming from Zabuza's exposed neck.

"Thank you for your assistance, I have been chasing him for weeks." the newly appeared fake hunter-nin said. All the men in our group knew that something was wrong but I simply stopped them with a raise of my left hand. Both their expressions now read a disgruntled 'WHY?'

"It was our pleasure, hunter-nin-san." Kakashi thanked and motioned for the stranger to approach and he complied, grabbed Zabuza and shunshinned away.

"Why did we let him get away? He was still alive!" Naruto protested and both Kakashi and I turned to him and smiled, each in our own ways.

"What?! He was dead!" Sakura screeched "Kakashi-sensei even checked his pulse!"

"Yeah! But senbon aren't deadly weapons! Nii-chan makes me train with clones throwing senbon at me all the time!" Naruto once again protested and that seemed to shut Sakura up, who was now wearing a confused expression.

"Great observation, Naruto-kun. For one, I am tired and we don't know how strong his partner was. Secondly, our mission is to protect Tazuna-san, not to dispose of Kiri nuke-nins." Kakashi stated with a straight face, but my face said 'I'll tell you the whole story later.'

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"Okay. I give up. Why didn't we stop him?" Naruto said with a pout.

"There's still good in Zabuza, and did you feel how protective is partner was? They have been hired by Gatou and I am certain that he is not trustful, from everything we have heard and the state of this village. That only leads to one logical conclusion – Gatou doesn't intend to uphold his end of the bargain, which means that when we meet Zabuza again, we can just wait until Gatou shows up." Naruto was thoughtful for a moment but then his face straightened.

"There's something you're not telling me, nii-chan. You've trained me well enough to notice this, especially when it comes to you." he said with a critical eye. Damn it... I knew I couldn't hide this for long. I set up some privacy seals around the room and motioned for Naruto to sit next to me.

"Naru-kun... have you ever wondered why I've always known this much and... how I know about the Jedi ways?" I asked and his eyes widened a little in shock and fear.

"Nii-chan... I don't know where you're going with this... you're scaring me." he said.

"Naruto... you know I will never hurt you... and that I will always be your brother, and nothing else, right?" I asked and he nodded and then gave me a sad smile.

"I'm actually... not from this world.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"This wasn't... as bad as I thought!" he said with a grin and hugged me tightly.

"You're not... mad... that I didn't tell you before or...?" I asked and he just hugged me tighter.

"No! It actually explains a whole lot! I've always wondered how you knew so much about all this stuff, but you're still my big brother and I think that it's wonderful that you've been sent here!" he said happily.

"But... don't tell me what's going to happen to me, please. I... I want to forge my own path." he said, now looking at the ground and I raised his face up for his eyes to meet mine.

"Don't worry, little brother." I said and now hugged him just as he did to me before.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

It was only a few days till Zabuza's next appearance would take place and I had been sensing a ripple in the Force, something calling to me, beckoning me to follow it. I had complete faith in Team 7 to defend themselves and Tazuna and I also had to follow the will of the Force. I told my team I would be gone for some time and not to worry and Naruto and Sasuke understood right away, but Kakashi was more reluctant to allow it, though my status as ANBU quickly overwrote any feelings he had about the matter, I could be going on a classified assignment for all he knew.

I had followed the small hum that beckoned to a strange cave. I closed my eyes, extended my senses as much as I could and developed a mental image of my surroundings. Miraluka were a race that were blind from birth, in the Star Wars universe, but they used the Force to see around them, I employed a similar concept here, except it was much more difficult since I was not accustomed to it. I could see the faint outline of a tunnel and I followed it. Soon I was in a large antechamber and I could feel a presence in front of me that was very powerful in the Force.

"Who are you?" I called out and a blinding light forced me to open my eyes to check the source, I was now in the gardens at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and, in front of me, stood... Yoda?

"Master Yoda?" I asked hopefully.

"Indeed, young one. Lost, you seem." Yoda said in his tell-tale voice and motioned me to follow towards a group of other Jedi Masters, among which was the entirety of the Jedi Council.

"What am I doing here? How is this possible?" I asked and for the first time, I was beginning to doubt my sanity.

"Worry not, young one. In a safe place, you are, stay a while, you must." Yoda beckoned and I almost took up his offer, but this was wrong. Even though I desperately wanted it to be true, it wasn't.

"This isn't real." I said and I was now surrounded by the darkness of the cave yet again. I shook thoughts about the recent hallucination away and followed the tunnel once again. A short while later I was once again in a large chamber, faintly illuminated by an eerie glow.

"We finally meet." a voice strangely familiar said and I turned around to face... myself?

"You are... me. But how?" I asked and reached out for him but he took a step back.

"Don't even compare myself to you! You're nothing but a weakling." he scoffed and I eyed him warily.

"Then... who are you?" I asked confusedly and he smirked, then cackled evilly, filling the air with echoes of deep, malefic laughter.


	9. Chapter 9 Revelations

"I am what you can become. Your potential. I am the strength that slumbers within you." he said in a low voice and I inspected him further, he looked almost entirely like me, the only difference were his eyes, lifeless husks of what mine were. They were a ghastly yellow outlined red that seeped like blood towards the pupils and they lacked compassion, curiosity, joy – they were evil.

"No." I answered his untold question.

"Why? Are you afraid of this power? Isn't this what YOU want? To protect your loved ones... yes... you aren't strong enough, but you can be!" he tempted and I was now fighting an inner battle. Yes, it was evil, but wasn't that selfish of me? If it meant protecting my friends, then, maybe it doesn't matter if I have lost my way or not...

**'Snap out of it.' **a deep voice echoed in every crevice of my consciousness.

'Kurama? I... I... you're right.'

"Your power is not what I need. You may look like me, but we're nothing alike." I told my evil self and he was clenching up in anger, his hands were balled into fists and his teeth were clenched.

"I hate you." he muttered faintly through gritting teeth and then vanished in a dark cloud of smoke.

"Thank you." I said out loud and then noticed the faint glow that had been fighting the darkness up until now, a faint blue. Step by step, I was closer to the source and then there it was – a small, but very bright, blue crystal, embedded halfway into the wall of the cave, it emitted a strange, yet calming hum. I reached out to it and gripped it and tried to pull out, but it wouldn't budge.

I sat down in a lotus position, closed my eyes and focused intently on the crystal – I could feel the Force resonating through it, it was like a lens for the rays of the sun, energy surrounding it in a wide radius. I tugged at it and I could feel it slide out of its socket, I repeated the motion again, and again but in small bursts, careful not to damage it.

Opening my eyes, I now face the blue crystal, now glowing even brighter than before, casting peculiar shapes on the walls of the cave. I had often read about this step and now it was time to put my knowledge into practice.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

Three days had passed since I started attuning the crystal and the process was finally coming to fruition. All that was left was to construct it. Padawan were given a mantra to utter to themselves while on this step and I was now reciting it in my head.

'_The crystal is the heart of the blade. The heart is the crystal of the Jedi. The Jedi is the crystal of the Force. The Force is the blade of the heart. All are intertwined. The crystal, the blade, the Jedi. We are one.' _

I could not see them, for my eyes were closed, but I was sensing all the components, binding them together when their alignment was correct. I gently adjusted fine details and then it was done.

The grip was Hashirama wood and the finishing made it slightly darker than usual. On it was golden filigree in spiralling shapes, similar to Uzumaki seals. The few metal parts that were visible – the pommel, the switches and the emitter part, were all black with barely visible grey patterning. 'An elegant weapon, for a more civilised age.'

I took a deep breath and lay my finger on the ignition plate – any mistake in my design, the construction or the alignment of the components and it was sure to fail, maybe even implode, taking me with it. I slid it gently up and a loud swoosh was heard, blue light emerging from the emitter in a straight, long line. I waved it around for a moment, feeling its weight and balance. Contrary to popular belief, the actual blade of the lightsaber resisted motion in a way... it was hard to describe but it felt similar to how an actual sword felt, but not exactly so.

Summoning up a Shadow Clone, it henged into an old Luke Skywalker and I handed him my lightsaber.

"We are all Jedi. The Force speaks through us. Through our actions, the Force proclaims itself and what is real. Today we are here to acknowledge what the Force has proclaimed." the clone spoke through the voice of the Jedi Grandmaster.

"Now step forward, Padawan Menma Uzumaki." I did as instructed and knelt. He lowered the lightsaber first to my left shoulder and then to my right and raised it swiftly from its position, severing the Padawan braid with it.

"By the right of the Council, by the will of the Force, I dub thee Jedi, Knight of the Republic." he said and I rose.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

Sakura was standing in a loose guard in front of Tazuna and I took that as my cue to survey the situation. Haku's icy dome was raised and I could hear the clanging of metal on metal inside, no matter how quick the boy was, not one of those projectiles would touch Naruto or Sasuke if they used their training properly, which led me to the next issue, Zabuza was being held down by ninken and Kakashi was preparing a Raikiri for the defenceless man. He tensed his muscles, prepared for a lunge and then disappeared, there was only one chance of stopping him now, I closed my eyes and concentrated all of my strength on the moving form of Kakashi, willing it to freeze, and so it did.

Kakashi was now unmoving in mid air, with his arm extended, lightning chirping its familiar tune, only a hairs width away from harming the form of the fake hunter-nin. I was now struggling to hold on to Kakashi, sweat sliding down my face and dripping on the wooden bridge.

"Stop, Kakashi-sensei."

"Menma? You are doing this... but how?!" he yelled, apparently not hearing a word that I had said.

"I said, stop." I repeated calmly and he tried to nod, struggling in the hold I had over him and then the lightning surrounding his right hand receded.

"Zabuza. You have been lied to, Gatou is on his way right now and he was never willing to uphold his end of the bargain." I warned the man and he grunted.

"And why should I trust you, brat?"

"I just saved your apprentice's life, I deserve this much." I explained and he scoffed.

"That is worth nothing to me, he is a tool, nothing more."

"Don't give me that!" I shouted at him and he flinched, his eyes glazing over with sadness for only a moment.

"I'll give you-" he started but was interrupted by the sound of loud, delayed clapping.

"Bravo. The mighty Demon of the Hidden Mist brought to his knees by a couple of brats and their handler."

"Gatou..." Zabuza murmured and was now clearly brimming with anger, the ninken releasing him after taking note of the situation "This is my fight now, don't interfere. That goes for you too, Haku." he said, lifting his Kubikiribocho from the ground.

"But... Zabuza-sama, I can help, I must help." Haku started but Zabuza raised a hand in a silencing motion.

"Enough. Even though I always said otherwise, this fight made me realise that you aren't just a tool to me, Haku. I got us in this mess and I will fix it. If I don't succeed... go with these shinobi – they are strong." he said sadly, with finality and charged at the unsuspecting mercenaries, slicing through them easily but getting hit by the occasional blow a few times, Gatou's screams echoed throughout the misty air and were subsequently silenced by the sound of a gory squelch and the thump of his head on the bridge.

The bridge was now filled with dead bodies, one of which was Zabuza, with a satisfied smile on his face, Haku was crying on his knees above the corpse and muttering all sorts of pleas and curses.

"Why? Why wasn't I strong enough? The only person that ever cared for me... is..." he began but was now sobbing audibly again, Naruto walked up to the distressed teen and put his hands around him and hugged him tightly, now acting as a sponge for the boy's tears.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

We had conducted a small ceremony in Zabuza's memory, since his death was truly honourable, albeit a bit bloody... Haku was silent all throughout except the occasional sniffle and the others were respectfully silent. I had already promised to provide shelter and training for Haku, if he chose to honour his mentor's dying wishes and he accepted gratefully, since he had developed a good friendship with Naruto ever since they met in the forest. Inari was sobbing, just like in Canon, since Naruto had to leave and after a few comforting words from Naruto, he waved us good-bye with the rest of their village. We were now on our way back to Konoha, with an extra member in our midst.

"Hey Menma. Where were you gone for so long and what's with that weird flash light strapped to your hip? Also, why did you cut off that braid thing, I thought it was pretty cool..." Sakura asked in a flurry and I spared a glance at her before noticing two stares trying to burn holes through my head. Naruto and Sasuke were staring disbelievingly at me and were switching their gazes from my hip to behind my right ear.

"Nii-chan, does that mean-" Naruto started but then lunged at me and hugged me tightly, I was beginning to wonder if that was all that Naruto and I were ever going to do together – hug... Though Sasuke was now also looming above us with an amused smirk on his face.

"What? What does it mean?" Sakura who was now also standing next to our fallen forms asked while impatiently tapping her foot.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, I think now's the time to explain to your team what has been going on for so long!" Kakashi exclaimed in a rare bout of emotion.

"Not here, Kakashi-sensei. I give you my word – I will explain everything when we arrive home." I said and Kakashi nodded contently, with a slightly impatient Sakura doing the same, Haku on the other hand didn't seem to hear anything other than his own thoughts – he was in a sort of comatose state ever since Zabuza's death.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"Let me get this straight... you want to harbour a Kiri nuke-nin? In your own home? And you want him instated as a Konoha shinobi?" The Third asked while rubbing his temples and sighing "Have you gone completely insane, Menma-kun?"

"No, Hokage-sama. I have complete faith in Haku. He's been through a lot and granted, his record isn't a clean slate, but it's circumstantial at best, he's never even killed before and his status as nuke-nin is solely based on the Kiri Kekkei Genkai Purge." I reasoned and he sighed audibly once more.

"You drive a hard bargain, Menma-kun. Very well... I will allow Haku to remain here, but from now on, he is on probation. We'll give him a few weeks and if everything goes well I will consider recruitment as Genin. Dismissed." I bowed and took my leave, opening the doors to the Hokage's office and arriving in the hallway where the team was waiting with hitched breaths.

"How did it go?" surprisingly, Haku was the one to ask, it made sense, though, considering it was his future and all.

"You are allowed to stay with us in Konoha and if you behave well, you will be considered for recruitment as shinobi." I said and smiled and Haku seemed relieved and then ecstatically hugged Naruto, his newly formed best friend. The grin I was now sporting was broken by the heated glares of Kakashi and Sakura who were awaiting answers, I motioned them to follow and lead them to the Namikaze estate.

"Wow, these cherry trees are amazing! How are they blossoming at this time of year?" Sakura marvelled at the scenery, she seemed to fit in the scene quite well, what with her pink hair and all.

"Seals." Kakashi answered boringly, it wasn't inconceivable that this wasn't his first time here, he was dad's student after all.

"It's still beautiful, though, you don't have to be so mean about it." Sakura pouted at Kakashi's response.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I'm sure Kakashi-sensei reacted the same when he walked through here for the first time." Naruto comforted with a grin and Sakura gave him a meek smile.

"Ma, ma, Naruto-kun, what makes you think I have been here before?" Kakashi asked in his usual nonchalance.

"You were part of dad's team!" Naruto pointed accusingly, to which Sakura and Sasuke turned befuddled eyes.

"What do you mean, Naruto? I thought you were an orphan... how do you know which team Kakashi-sensei was on anyway?" Sakura asked and Sasuke merely agreed with a nod.

"Well... if we're going to tell you the whole story... I guess we can start with the beginning... even orphans have parents, you know..." Naruto said sadly.

"Did they leave you guys behind?" Sakura asked, now taking up the role of the compassionate mother, rubbing Naruto's back.

"No, they died... twelve years ago." Naruto answered quietly. I nudged Kakashi in his side and tilted my head to the side sharply, motioning for him to help out, he gave an apologetic look but then explained nonetheless.

"Uzumaki was their mother's family name. Their real family name is Namikaze, but the village was sworn to secrecy to protect their identities." Kakashi explained matter-of-factly.

"That name... seems familiar." the bookworm Sakura said while rubbing her chin and then turned a shock expression towards me and Naruto.

"You're... related to the Fourth?!" she screeched out.

"This is not widely known, but Minato Namikaze had two twin sons." Kakashi explained and now Sasuke was sharing Sakura's expression.

"That's not what you really wanted to tell us, though. Is it?" Kakashi asked once more "Like... explaining how you basically stopped me in mid air without touching me or casting any jutsus?" Kakashi turned an analytical eye towards me and my brother.

"I can help explain that." Sasuke offered and I nodded to him, he smiled reassuringly.

"We are practising something akin to a religion, but not quite. We study, serve and utilise the energy that surrounds and binds all things together – the Force." Sasuke explained sagely, I was beginning to think that I was either a very bad judge of character or that my presence had changed Sasuke's personality completely...

"The Force?" Kakashi repeated dumbly. Sakura, on the other hand, was listening intently and absorbing every word of her crush, her scholarly nature now playing a key role in the conversation at hand.

"I want to know more." she said simply. I exchanged a look between myself, Naruto and Sasuke and we all nodded at once, mildly communicating our feeling through the Force bond we had developed training and meditating together.

"Sakura, you do realise that if we allow you to study the Force... you are not allowed to divulge this information to anyone else, correct?" I asked slowly, emphasizing the words 'not' and 'anyone'. She took a moment to decide and then nodded excitedly.

"How do you know about this... Force you keep talking about?" Kakashi once again inquired and I decided to use an excuse that seemed logical for its connection.

"Kurama." I said simply and Kakashi now looked extremely suspicious.

"Who is this Kurama?" he asked with a wave of his hand.

"Kurama is a nine-tailed fox." I said in the same way as before. Kakashi's visible widened, while Sasuke and Sakura's jaws dropped.

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you guys about that... Dad couldn't defeat Kurama, so he sealed him in us, the Yin part in Menma and the Yang in me, to be exact." Naruto explained with a sheepish smile.

"And you spoke with... Kurama?" Kakashi asked disbelievingly.

"Yes... the attack on the village wasn't his fault, to be honest... What's more, he is one of the Sage's sons, so he's got some really useful knowledge." I explained and Kakashi was warming up to my theory.

"What Sage?" Sakura asked in a drawn out tone, brimming with curiosity.

"The Sage of the Six Paths." I responded at the same time as Naruto and Kakashi and we all chuckled awkwardly at each other.

"Whose fault was the attack?" Kakashi resumed his interrogation.

"The only thing that Kurama told me was that it was someone with a mask, in black robes with red clouds on them, and he had the Eternal Mangekyō..." I omitted the use of 'Sharingan', careful not to panic Sasuke further, but he recognized the name.

"So... it was an Uchiha..." he said, boring holes through the ground.

"Sasuke, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself or your clan for the actions of one man." I tried comforting him but he was now spilling tears of anger in silence.

"Don't! I've been having visions... of the past. I know about my clan and what they were planning to do... it's bad enough that my brother is considered a criminal in this village, don't you try apologising for the mistakes of the Uchiha!" he growled and I was shocked. That wasn't something that I expected hearing, I knew that Sasuke had a very strong connection to the Force... but to have seen the past, and such important events as well...

"Considered a criminal... what do you mean Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"It's nothing... forget I even mentioned it." he said and was now his usual calm and collected self, wiping his tears on the sleeve of his robes.

"What has been discussed here. Everything. Not a word leaves this place, do you understand?" Kakashi asked in a professional and intimidating tone.

"I need to go now... Hokage-sama will have to learn of this conversation." he said and disappeared in a leaf Shunshin.

And here I was, thinking that after I had three Padawan under my care I could just slack off and forget about recruitment for a while... Oh well... at least I didn't have to scream about the Flames of Youth at the top of my lungs to motivate them...


	10. Chapter 10 The Artist

"I hear _someone_ has become a Knight. Any idea about whom it could be?" Anko asked with feigned innocence in her tone.

"Um... Surprise?" I said sheepishly and waved my hands in a faux Broadway fashion.

"I want to see it." she said eagerly and was rubbing her hands, it seemed overly dirty the way she said it, but I knew what she was talking about.

"Okay. But. Be. Careful" I said, accentuating every word. I reached for my belt clip and slid the release off the lightsaber, handing it to Anko who was holding her hands out in acceptance. She inspected it thoroughly, pointed it towards nothing in particular and slid the ignition plate.

"I want one." she said while twirling my lightsaber around nonchalantly.

"I have a semblance of an idea about how you can... acquire a crystal." I offered and she was now giving me her best puppy dog eyes.

"Firstly, you're going to have to design your own. Masamune can craft any design you hand to him, I've got a few standard designs for you to look over as well... The hard part is going to be the crystal. I found mine in a cave in the Land of Waves, I can pinpoint it to you on a map." she took in the information and then gave me a questioning look, bordering on pleading.

"Yes, as soon as you are ready, you can go and build yourself a lightsaber." I said with a sight. I was the superior in our little Order, though I didn't impose limitations as strict as the original one. I gave her the standard designs and she went off to what I would assume would be 'The Sharpened Kunai', to discuss blueprints with Masamune. I headed straight for the library, to check up on one of my new students.

Opening the door to the significant room, I glanced along each of the aisles until I noticed the girl, hunched over a myriad of books, pink hair draped over her forehead and eyes.

"Are your studies coming along nicely?" I asked politely and she seemed startled by my sudden appearance.

"Oh, it's you. You startled me Menma-kun," she said with a pout "and yeah, this stuff is really interesting! The history of the Jedi Order, and the different abilities the Jedi have... so thorough!" she said happily hugging away at one of the books I had written about the Star Wars universe.

"I'm happy you enjoy those, if you need any clarifications, feel free to ask." I offered and she seemed startled once again.

"Wait... you wrote this?" she motioned towards the material she had been studying.

"Yes, that's correct. You seem surprised." I chuckled lightly and she was flushing in embarrassment.

"No... I mean, yes. The eloquence and the theoretical knowledge needed to write this is incredible, and you're so young!" she exclaimed and now I was the one blushing.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan. Please, carry on with your work." I said and took my leave, this was the first private conversation I had with Sakura and she was just as much as a bookworm as I was, it was intriguing to know somebody like me that wasn't almost 70, like the Third. I now made my way to Haku's room and knocked two times.

"Come in." his voice resonated through the walls, producing a peculiar echo. I pushed the door open and found Haku wearing a casual black shirt and matching shorts, a far cry from his usual kimono. He was in a situation similar to Sakura's, hunched over his copy of the Jedi Path, apparently a slower reader than the bookworm.

"Forgive me for my intrusion, I only wished to see how your studies have been going." I offered and he raised his eyes from the page he was reading and smiled at me.

"It's helping me get through my loss, actually. After reading the Jedi Code I was somewhat confused but now I'm starting to understand it on a deeper level... I like how everybody melds into the Living Force after they pass on, I still miss him, but I'm not sad that he's dead now." he confessed with a smile that didn't show sadness or depression, merely acceptance.

"That's good to hear. Keep up the good work." I said with a wave and retreated into the hallway.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

"You wished to see me, jiji?" I asked the man in his Hokage robes that seemed much, much older from the last time that I had seen him.

"Yes. I've been dealing with a troublemaker in the village. She was a promising shinobi but she's very rebellious... she's a Genin that has been kicked from her cell and would normally be taken off the active roster. Luckily, we have a team that's missing a member!" he exclaimed with a chuckle, this Genin wouldn't be his problem anymore.

"Okay, count me in. Who is this 'troublemaker'?" I was in need of a member for participation in the Chuunin exams and I was a firm believer of 'one man's trash is another one's treasure'. The Hokage said 'Send her in,' in a surprisingly quiet tone, but the secretary heard him nonetheless and the doors opened.

"Menma-kun, allow me to introduce Aya Kimura." he motioned towards the girl and I was speechless for a moment. The girl was stunning, even for one part of this universe. The first thing I noticed was her eyes, orange-red eyes that shone with mischief. All her facial features were flawless and angular, akin to a cat's, ready to pounce. Her eyebrows were very thin and angled sharply, just like the rest of her features. She had short hair that didn't reach past her neck and that was tucked behind her ear on the left side. On the right side, she had a side bang that slightly covered her right eye and that continued on to hide her ear, hanging freely when compared to the left one. Her hair was a dark blue colour, highlighted blonde and strawberry blonde on her bangs. A perky nose and slightly plump lips completed the picture.

Her body was lithe and athletic, she had shapely legs, great hips, a slim waist and what seemed to be C-cups, she was wearing a tight black T-shirt that ended just above her bellybutton and similarly form-fitting black shorts that ended high on her thighs. Covering the rest of her legs were thigh-high solid black socks and standard shinobi footwear. She also had a pair of black fingerless gloves that ended just below her elbows.

"Hi there. My name is Menma Uzumaki and I'm your new team mate." I said with a smile, extending my hand in greeting and she reluctantly shook, but had a look of surprise on her face.

"All right. Why don't you two get to know each other?" the Third offered and motioned for us to leave, I smiled reassuringly at the confused girl and motioned towards the exit.

We walked through the streets for a while when I decided it would be time to break the ice.

"Are you hungry by any chance? I happen to know a great ramen place." I offered and she nodded meekly, we headed to Ichiraku's and sat down.

"I thought that they would finally kick me out of the roster, you know? I've been doing a lot of shit lately and I realised that it might be finally coming back to bite me in the ass." she said honestly.

"Why do you do it, then?" I asked good naturedly.

"You don't know anything about me!" she hissed and I raised my hands to show no ill intent.

"I didn't mean it like that. Now, what is it that's so bad it could get you kicked off the roster." I asked, sort of.

"A couple of things. Defacement, vandalism, insubordination... those are the big three." she said shamefully.

"Defacement? We don't have that many monuments here... wait. You painted the Hokage Mountain?" I asked disbelievingly, this was something that Naruto would do in Canon, not some previously unknown Genin that was up for discharge. She nodded once, a semblance of pride showing through the cracks, I smiled at that.

"Ah, Menma-kun, great to see you again, I hear you've been gone on a mission for the past few weeks!" Ayame said excitedly.

"Yeah, a C-rank that turned A-rank... We handled it like pros." I smiled at the elder sister figure.

"So, the usual, then? Oh, are you with Menma-kun," she asked Aya "as much as you love our ramen, you shouldn't bring a girl on a date at a ramen stand!" she scolded and I chuckled.

"It's nothing like that, she's my new team mate!" I defended and motioned towards Aya who was now blushing lightly.

"Oh, okay. Sorry about that," she apologised sheepishly "so, what can I get you-?"

"Aya. I'll have a miso ramen, please." she said and turned back to our conversation.

"Forgive me for asking, it probably isn't my place, but why?" I asked, referring to the girl's pastimes.

"Art." she whispered under her breath but I was able to distinguish what she said.

"He he, next thing I'll find out is that you're an explosive experts." I chuckled and my thoughts turned to a certain blond Akatsuki member. Aya, on the other hand, was having none of the same thoughts, her eyes were widened and her jaw was slacked.

"You're an explosive experts, aren't you?" I asked sarcastically and she grinned.

"I don't know how you guessed that, but you're right on the mark! I like to refer to myself as an explosive _artist_, but whatever floats your boat."

"You don't happen to mould explosive clay with little mouths in your palms and yell 'Art is an explosion!' when you release, do you?" I asked, almost rhetorically, Aya was now looking at me with a mixture of disgust and amusement.

"Now you're just pushing it. That's creepy as hell." she chuckled and I followed suit.

"Yeah, don't know where I got _that _idea from." I said, still imagining Aya dressed in Akatsuki clothes riding a white clay bird, laughing hysterically while throwing bombs from her perch.

"It's your turn, tell me about yourself." she said while slurping her ramen, I quickly vanquished my current bowl, preparing for the next one. I held both half of Kurama and I had Uzumaki genes, my appetite was nothing short of amazing.

"Well... I'm great with Water and Lightning jutsu, I'm actually close to mastery with those and I can start working with Storm soon enough... I suck at Genjutsu and I'm really good at Kenjutsu. My Taijutsu isn't on the same level as Gai-sensei's but I'm not too shabby. I also have monstrous chakra reserves and a few other tricks up my sleeves." I said through loud slurps and she was nodding with appreciation.

"So... you're not a pushover, then. Who's our other team mate, and who's our sensei?"

"Our other team mate is a boy by the name of Haku... you might think he's a girl at first because he's feminine and beautiful in the way only a woman could be... I feel wrong saying that. Anyway, he's great with Hyōton jutsu, medical jutsu and knows how to use senbon extremely well. We don't really have a sensei, though." I explained and her look was utmost suspicion now.

"What do you mean 'we don't have a sensei'?" she repeated.

"Exactly what you heard, Hokage-sama trusts me as team leader and to work with your abilities, it's a little more complicated than that, but I'm not at liberty to say just yet." I elaborated.

"You're stronger than you seem, then. Or we're a bunch of misfits that don't even deserve a sensei..." she seemed ashamed more than anything, I put a hand on the shoulder closest to me and rubbed it in comfort.

"Yes and no. Think of it like a second chance. I can promise you one thing, though, if we work together, our team has the potential of being the best team in this damn village." I said honestly and she raised an eyebrow cutely at my sudden burst of excitement.

"What's our designation, anyway? Team 11? Or are we Team Menma?" she asked with a chuckle.

"We're Team 0." I answered and she seemed convinced it was a joke.

"Team 0, as in 'nothing'. Are we really that pathetic?" she asked mockingly.

"You know... the Egyptians' symbol for 0 also meant 'beautiful', 'pleasant' and 'good'." I said and a second later realised my mistake.

"Who are the Egyptians?" she asked.

"Well... they are a civilisation that lived two millennia ago," I said, wanting to get rid of this subject as soon as possible "The Chuunin exams are coming up. We should focus on those as our first goal as a team. We can also train with Team 7, if you guys want to."

"Why Team 7?"

"My brother is part of that team and I was under an apprenticeship with their sensei. Besides, I know everything there is to know about their abilities so there wouldn't be any trust issues between us." I said and she was now smiling mischievously.

"Your brother, huh? Is he older than you? I bet he looks better. Wonder if you could hook us up?" she teased mercilessly and I just chuckled, that would have probably worked on a twelve year old... maybe next time.

"That's cute," I said and she blushed "he's my twin. His eyes are cerulean blue and his hair is solid blonde, we look identical besides those two. How old are you, by the way?" I asked curiously and she looked a lot like a young Hinata right now, burying her chin in her chest and glancing down shyly.

"Fourteen." she muttered almost inaudibly.

"Hey. What's up?" I said, nudging her chin up with my index finger to meet her gaze.

"I'm a failure, okay?! I couldn't even make it to the Chuunin exams, my sensei always told me I was bringing the team down!" she exclaimed angrily and I couldn't help but feel for her. I could sense she wasn't weak and her attitude 'issues' didn't seem THAT bad. I threw my left arm around her shoulders and pressed her against me snugly.

"You're not a failure, Aya. You still have a chance to prove them wrong, so do me a favour and stop downplaying yourself so often." I muttered while holding her a little bit too intimately for our first meeting, my nose was buried in her hair and I could smell jasmine, sandalwood and a hint of chocolate and hints of spray can aerosols and... sealing ink?

"Aya-chan," I have no idea where that suffix came from "how exactly do you make your explosives?" I asked, curious about my hunch.

"Seals. I make them myself, why?" she turned her face up, her sparkling vermilion eyes meeting my midnight blue and I got lost for a moment in those beautiful orbs.

"You smell wonderful." I complimented and the position we were in seemed entirely inappropriate at that moment, we swiftly scrambled to our original position and threw each other awkward smiles, Ayame, on the other hand was giggling furiously. She calmed down just enough to take our empty bowls and she leaned a little too far for Aya's, her face now near the latter's ear, I acted on instinct, and in hindsight, unbecomingly, and focused on extending my senses, that coupled with my training as a tracker and my contract with the ninken allowed me to hear everything that my 'elder sister' had said.

Aya and I were now sporting similar crimson blushes. Aya was muttering incoherent words and I was scratching the back of my ear awkwardly, Ayame, on the other hand, was laughing heartily and saying how we look 'great' together.

( '_')0*´¯`·.¸.·´¯`°Q('_' )

Sensing Anko's proximity to the estate, I headed towards the gates to greet her. She looked just like usual, in her purple Jedi outfit, except for the saberstaff that hung neatly from her belt, ornate, flowing and over-all very elegant in its design.

"Long time no see, Anko-chan. How was your trip?" I asked, glad to see her again after more than a week's absence.

"Good to be back. It was brutal... did you know that saberstaves need four crystals in order to work properly?" she vexed. I chuckled at her antics.

"Yeah, I knew that. Have you tested it?" I pointed towards the hilt.

"Tested it? How?" she asked with confusion.

"Well, if the components are misaligned, the worst that can happen is implosion, but when it meets another energy source, it could practically shatter your blade if it's constructed poorly. I tested it with my old sword and lightning chakra channelling." I explained and she had a look of mild fear on her face, if this didn't go well, she had to go back and find another four crystals, and then attune them to the Force. She elegantly drew the weapon and held it parallel to the ground, left arm extended fully and right arm and leg behind her. The blade came to life with a purple glow and the familiar sound of a lightsaber. I drew my own blade and ignited it, holding it in a reverse grip behind me. Anko launched off and threw a flurry of strikes at me, all glancing blows and I dodged and blocked them with ease. We kept this up for a dozen more strikes or so, to test both the blades and she seemed proud of her construction.

"Good work, Anko-chan. Are you happy with it?" I teased and she brought the powerless hilt to her chest, hugging it tightly and casting an aggressive glare towards me, as if to ward me away from her new love.

"She's my little kid. She's perfect." she said and I was starting to think that Anko was losing her mind.

"I don't suppose you gave 'her' a name?" I asked jokingly, not expecting any answers but Anko turned a glare towards me.

"Of course I did, she's my little Mamba!" she said, all the while hugging her new weapon. I sweat dropped at that.

"You named your saberstaff after a species of highly poisonous snakes? Why am I not surprised?..." I said with a sigh and Anko was now grinning widely at me while silently motioning me if I wanted to hold 'little Mamba'. I shook my head 'No.' and she pouted.

"Come on, Mamba-chan. We'll go play without 'Meanie-kun' over there!" she said while walking away, rocking Mamba in her arms.


End file.
